Safer with the enemy
by touched by an angel with love
Summary: What if Quinn wasn't the responsible pregnant teen the show made her out to be? What if she wanted to get rid of Rachel so badly she was willing to destroy a precious life and lie about it? I do NOT own Glee or the characters, if I did Finchel would be a thing of the past. Characters are a little OOC but it just fits for this story.
1. Prologue

**Safer with the enemy**

**Prologue**

Rachel was running late, she hated running late for Glee club but some Hockey player decided he and his friend were going to double slushy her so she barely had enough time to clean herself up properly. Quickly putting her sodden hair in a bun she burst through the choir room door, deposited her bags in the corner where they'd be out of the way and took her seat in the front, no one asked her where she had been or why she was late and soaked, not that she expected them to; she was on thin ice with her teammates as they thought that she was the one who told Finn the truth about the paternity of Quinn's baby which she hadn't and had no idea who had, she only discovered the truth by using her gut feeling and asking if Quinn had a full medical check, including a rare disorder that only Jewish people carried and once she saw Quinn panic and talk to Noah about it she had her answer.

She listened to Mr Schue talk about Regionals, ignoring all of her ideas and input on what the judges are looking for and why wouldn't he? She had brought Jesse St James into the group, the lead performer from their rival team, only for him to transfer back to Carmel High School and his team Vocal Adrenaline where her birth mother was his coach. As a consequence of her 'betrayal' no one in the Glee club was talking to her, even the one who didn't tease her but never stood up for her either, one wrong move from her and she'd be kicked off the team and she couldn't let that happen; she loved Glee club and every member in it, even those who laughed at her and made her life harder than it should be.

As they began to rehearse Rachel pulled a bottle of water from her bag, knowing she'd need it for the dance routine, and put it back in the corner far from the others, what she didn't notice was that Quinn pulled her bag out of the corner, slightly further than the rest and stood next to it, even though her place was on the other side of Noah. As they began the group number, following the direction of Brittany and Mike who were the two of the best dancers on the team, things seemed to be going really well until they heard a thud and a cry in pain, everyone looked to see Quinn's ankle wrapped around the strap of Rachel's bag and her face contorted in pain, when they helped her up they panicked at the blood. Mr Schue called for an ambulance while the others glared at Rachel, they continued to glare at her as Quinn was loaded into the ambulance, completely missing the smug smile on the ex-Cheerio captain's face. No one offered Rachel a lift to the hospital, instead they left her standing in the pouring rain, with her fathers out of town for a while and the last bus having already left, she stood in the school's parking lot, guilt flooding her and tears being disguised by the rain.

At the hospital Quinn refused the others entry while she delivered her still-born daughter, the doctors and nurses took her tears as those of sorrow when in fact they were ones of joy and relief; she no longer had to be at the bottom of the social ladder, she'd get her place back on the Cheerios and she'd have Finn back, the first thing she'd do when Finn became hers again was have Rachel Berry kicked out of their lives. The only remorse she had was when she allowed Noah hold their daughter, the tears in his eyes proved that he really wanted to prove that he could be a father and that he really wanted her, she pushed these feelings down and told him to leave after a few minutes.

Once the Glee club had left she inwardly congratulated herself; this would definitely get Rachel kicked out of the New Directions for good and hopefully bullied enough that she has to move schools, maybe even towns or states. As she lay back against her pillow she began to doze off, what she didn't realise was that the doctors were speaking with her parents about her blood work and the state of the baby, there was far too much alcohol and prescription drugs in her system for the baby to be miscarried from a fall, the baby had been dead since roughly the night before.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The New Directions met in secret over the weekend, Rachel excluded, Quinn was home from the hospital, now that she wasn't pregnant her parents welcomed back with open arms, she was on bed rest so they all met at her house, Mr Schue was away on a teaching conference so they filled him in over skype. The plan was to have Rachel kicked off the team, as Quinn sobbed that she no longer felt safe with her there, and have the new exchange student Sunshine Corazon take her place.

"She doesn't even need to audition," Artie explained to Mr Schue. "She's staying with Mercedes and she's an awesome singer, we've all heard her."

"Now all we have to do is to get rid of Baby-Killer." Kurt told them. "Mr Schue we can leave that with you."

They spoke for another hour until Mr Schue had to sign off, then they talked about how wonderful the club would be without Rachel hogging to spotlight and throwing her tantrums every time a solo was given to someone else. Quinn was getting bored so she yawned, Tina noticed.

"Come on guys we'd better go, Quinn needs her rest." She smiled at the blonde before giving her a gentle hug.

Hugs followed from the others, Finn kissed his girlfriend, having gotten back with her earlier that day, before they left leaving Quinn to beam to herself, she loved the attention she was receiving, soon the Glee club would be hers to control and she'd be reinstated as Head Cheerio. _'Coach would be proud, like she says; I'm a young Sue Sylvester_.'

Rachel sneezed again during Mr Schue's Spanish class, after having to walk home in the pouring rain she'd caught a bad cold, the whole school knew about the miscarriage, Jacob Ben Israel had even come up to her to ask how she felt about the rumours that she was being described as a heartless baby killer who only cared about herself and her Broadway dream, other than that no one spoke to her and why would they? If she hadn't carelessly left her bag where Quinn could've tripped over it then she would still have friends.

"Rachel can I see you for a moment please?" Mr Schue called at the end of the lesson.

She nodded, sneezed again and blew her nose, she shouldn't have come to school but she's never missed a day before, why start now? She gathered her bag and walked to the front desk, Mr Schue gestured for her to take a seat in front of him.

"The Glee club and I have been talking for some time now, and we feel that it's best if you don't come to rehearsals for a while." He explained.

"But Regionals-"

"Are taken care of, we have someone to replace you."

"How long is a while?" Rachel felt dread in her gut, this was it, she was being kicked out for good.

"That will be a team decision, the truth is that Quinn doesn't feel safe with you in the club at the moment, the poor girl is so distressed. You've really messed up this time; first by telling Finn that he wasn't the father, then bringing Jesse only for him to leave once he saw our set list and now this." Mr Schue tried to be nice. "Your selfishness can't go on any more Rachel, you need to change or you'll find yourself very lonely."

"I've felt nothing but guilt the entire weekend, I tried to apologise to Noah and Quinn, and everyone, but they ignore me, they're not talking to me." Rachel sneezed again before pulling out her handkerchief to blow her nose. "Please Mr Schue, you can't let them do this to me, I love Glee club, you're the director you have more power than they do, it's your decision who comes and who goes."

"I'm sorry Rachel but it's a unanimous decision, you're off the team until further notice." He dismissed her.

With her no longer in Glee club Rachel gathered her homework from her locker and left the school. She held the tears in until she got to her car where she broke down before pulling out of the parking lot and driving home, she was lucky that her fathers decided to extend their trip so she wouldn't have to explain to them why she was crying, she had already told them about the baby and even though they'd assured her that it was an accident and that her friends would forgive her she felt no better. What she didn't expect to see when she got home was Jesse St James and Shelby Corcoran, her birth mother, waiting on her porch.

Over the next few days Rachel was constantly bullied, not just the jocks and the Cheerios or even those who were considered losers, but the Glee club even slushied her and wrote graffiti on her locker, the teachers had given up trying to stop them, figuring that they'll get bored eventually. Ms Pillsbury tried to talk to her but all Rachel could do was cry before compose herself and mumbling that she didn't feel like talking at the moment and left the office, only to be greeted by Artie and Tina, each with a slushy directed at her. Ms Pillsbury watched in horror and disappointment as Mr Schue looked on and did nothing, she called him into her office.

"Why did you do nothing? I just had Rachel in here sobbing for almost half an hour and when she finally calmed down she's slushied by two people who are supposed to be her friends and the one teacher she looks up to does nothing." She ranted.

"Relax Emma, the kids are just exercising some built up frustrations, it's perfectly healthy and Rachel's fine."

"No it's not Will, they're torturing her because of an accident that she's desperate to make up for. You're treating her like she's Terri."

"No I'm not. Quinn is devastated right now; she wouldn't have lost her baby if Rachel had been on time and put her bags in the corner properly instead of carelessly leaving them where someone could fall over."

"Do you hear yourself? You're blaming a girl who's getting more and more depressed for an accident that she had no control over, was Quinn even supposed to be in the position she was in? Rachel was late because she was slushied, how many times have the others been late or even turned up? I seem to remember Finn choosing football over Glee."

"You don't understand Emma; Rachel's the reason Finn left us before Sectionals, she told him that Puck was the father, she brought Jesse to the team and as soon as he saw our set list and knew our weaknesses he left us for Vocal Adrenaline and now she's hurt Quinn. Rachel's hurt a lot of people because she's selfish, she thinks she can make it all the way to Broadway but she needs to realise that it's impossible if she can't take criticism from her teammates or even work in a team."

Ms Pillsbury sighed, clearly she wasn't getting through to him. _'I can't believe I liked him. If this is the real Will Schuester then I don't want to have anything to do with him other than to work with him.'_ He hadn't even commented on Rachel's state.

"Look Emma I have to go, the kids and I need to run through our new set list, Rachel knows our last one and I don't want her leaking it to Vocal Adrenaline because she's bitter about be asked to leave the club." He left.

"Unbelievable." Ms Pillsbury sighed before pulling out her voice recorder so she could type up her notes at home. "Just unbelievable."

"Mom, I'm back." Rachel called as she walked through her front door. With her still blaming herself her fathers thought that it was best if Shelby stayed with her until they returned, they also rescinded the contract so Shelby could see her daughter whenever she pleased.

"Hey honey, was today any better?" Shelby had realised her mistake after telling Rachel that they should only be grateful to know each other, she had come back and explained everything, including why she sent Jesse to McKinley. Jesse had come back to apologise for leading her on and although he found her beautiful he didn't swing that way, they resumed their friendship and even saw each other as brother and sister.

"Got slushied by Tina and Artie, Mr Schue didn't do anything, saw Ms Pillsbury again and everyone else is either ignoring me or bullying me. So today is about the same as yesterday and the day before." Rachel sighed and sat down at the table.

"Do you want me to call the principle? I'm sure he would do something to stop this."

"There's no point, school's almost out for the summer so nothing will be done. We don't have a strict non-bullying policy like Carmel or Dalton Academy."

Shelby hated seeing her daughter this way; she wanted Rachel to transfer to Carmel where she wouldn't be tortured but Rachel was right; it was almost the end of the year and Shelby wouldn't be teaching there after the summer. _'I have to do something; I can't let my daughter suffer like this anymore.'_

After dinner, which Rachel only picked at even though it was her favourite, she completed all of her homework, including the extra that Mr Schue had given her at the end of class, had a bath and began taking down her Broadway playbills and posters, she was going to redecorate her room at the weekend. Exhausted she bid her mom goodnight before climbing into bed.

Downstairs Shelby was filling Hiram and Leroy on the situation before she called the school asking for help, if she couldn't go to the principle didn't mean that there wasn't a teacher or two there who wanted William Schuester to suffer.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It didn't take long for one Sue Sylvester to convince, or bribe and blackmail, principle Figgins to allow her to co-direct the Glee club, her experience in winning National championships with her Cheerios made it impossible for him to say no, and the fact that she had that video of him advertising flight socks didn't hurt either. This caused Mr Schue to complain and whine until Figgins reminded him that if his Glee club didn't place then there would be no club next year, Coach Sylvester picked at all of their ideas and criticised their dance routines, she revelled in their fear as she walked through the door, even Santana and Brittany were scared; they knew what she was like in practice, only Quinn was able to successfully hide her fears with confidence as she was still sure that she'd be welcomed back to the Cheerios soon.

"Berry, come in here for a second." She called from her office when she saw the girl walk by. "Take a seat." She pulled out a file and a tape. "I had a phone call from your mother and she told me of your harassment, I have made it clear that although I tend to strike fear into the hearts of these students I will not tolerate pointless bullying."

"What are those?" Rachel pointed to the file and the tape.

"Those are for your peace of mind that you had nothing to do with Fabray's stupidity. I also have a couple of students who have offered to help you."

Karofsky and Azimio walked into the office and stood either side of the small girl.

"Offered or threatened?" Rachel was a little wary, these boys had slushied her almost every day for the past two years, although they hadn't been bullying her lately.

"Offered. We want to make up for what we've done in the past, bullying is one thing and we were wrong to do it but what everyone's doing to you now isn't right." Karofsky explained.

"We want to start by helping you and protecting you," Azimio went on. "The rest of the football team and the hockey team know you're off limits, we've told them the truth. We were also hoping that you'd help us with our grades, what you said to us when we first slushied you about us staying in this loser town made us think, we want to leave and make our parents proud."

"These boys will become your shadows, their schedules have been matched to yours so you're never alone and Figgins has agreed that any harassment you receive the punishments will come straight from me."

'_They really want to help me. No one's wanted to help me in so long.'_ "Thank you." Rachel's relief flooded through her and Coach Sylvester could see her relax for possibly the first time in days.

"I still want you to see Ms Pillsbury once or twice a week, whenever you need to really, but you can always come to these boys or me if you need to and remember, Jacob Ben Israel isn't the only person in this school who has the place bugged, nothing goes on here that I don't know about."

Rachel couldn't help herself, she got up and hugged the most feared teacher in the school, Coach Sylvester returned the hug and rubbed her back soothingly, only then did she feel how thin the girl was.

"One more thing," they pulled away. "You have to start eating properly, I know that you're a Vegan but you still need to eat. When the Glee club begs you to come back I don't want you to faint halfway through a routine."

Rachel nodded, took the file and left the office, closely followed by Karofsky and Azimio. Hopefully things would start looking up for her.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Things did start looking up for Rachel, only the New Directions and a few select Cheerios slushied her, of course Coach Sylvester punished them through rehearsals by making them work harder and harder each time, when that had no effect she forced them to clean all of her trophies, the ones in school and the ones in her condo while her housekeeper looked on and criticised them. Karofsky and Azimio were always by her side, when they had football practice she would wait in the library or on the bleachers. Her fathers had come home and helped her to redecorate her room, her mom had to go back to Akron but they still saw each other almost every day, spoke every night and had dinner together at least twice a week. Jesse persuaded her to come to Carmel to watch Vocal Adrenaline rehearse and she became fast friends with Andrea Cohen. Ms Pillsbury gave her different methods of coping with her sadness as she didn't want to resort to medication and Coach Sylvester became her favourite teacher.

Unfortunately the graffiti and the taunts from the Glee club continued, even Mr Schue was still assigning her extra homework in Spanish class, work that he gave his Seniors, the New Directions blamed her for every rehearsal that Coach Sylvester was hard on them and were merciless, Quinn, Santana, Kurt and Mercedes were specially cruel; they vandalised her car and shredded her spare clothes before throwing slushies in her face. Only Noah seemed to back off with the bullying, his mom told him of this girl who died in the hospital because she was being bullied in school, she'd taken her own life because she was told the world would be a better place without her, this made him think that if the bullying continued then Rachel might do something like that. He really liked Rachel, he actually cared about her when they were dating, he was hurt when she ended things with him and now he was hurting that his daughter was gone but he didn't blame her for it, it was an accident and Quinn wasn't supposed to be on the side where the bags were. He stopped with the slushies and the taunts lying to the others by telling them he was waiting for a moment when Rachel was most vulnerable, in actual fact he approached Karofsky and Azimio and promised that he'd help them look out for her, he wanted to apologise to the girl but she was so terrified that she avoided him completely.

"Ok guys," Mr Schue announced in Glee club that day. "Regionals are in two weeks and I really think that we can beat Vocal Adrenaline if we work as a team, as a family."

"Something Berry was never able to do." Santana said knowing that Mr Schue wouldn't do or say anything to contradict her.

"Zip it Lopez." Coach Sylvester barked from the corner. _'Note to self; speak to Figgins about a strict non-bullying policy.'_

"Sue, don't talk to my students like that. Now let's get started." Mr Schue glared.

'_Why is everyone being mean to Rachel? It was an accident that Quinn lost her baby, I think, or maybe she lost it the night before.'_ Brittany truly like Rachel, unfortunately she always wanted to please Santana so she had to act like she hated the girl.

'_If Schue says one bad thing about Rachel then I'm out of here. I just wish she'd talk to me and not hide so I can tell her that I forgive her. Maybe I can sing to her again.'_ Noah got into position next to Brittany and they shared a look, it became clear to him that she liked Rachel too.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Come on honey, you were doing so well, those boys were helping you. Where were they when it happened?" Shelby talked as Vocal Adrenaline rehearsed.

"They got a detention from Mr Schue because they slushied Finn, Mike and Matt. I'm not strong enough for this mom, Coach Sylvester gave me the evidence and I've seen it but I don't know what to do with it, the boys have been wonderful but it's still so hard. Noah and Brittany are always looking for me and I get so scared that I hide from them all the time. Mom the blouse you bought me was shredded when before I got slushied today." She sobbed.

"Oh baby, come here," Shelby pulled her daughter onto her lap. "I'm going to do something about this; it's gone on for too long. I also want you to remember something that my grandmother told me and I want you to say it to yourself every morning and write it in all of your books. _You are smart, you are kind, you are important and you are loved._"

"Sorry to interrupt," Jesse called from the stage. "We have something prepared for Rachel."

"Ok, go ahead." Shelby nodded.

Vocal Adrenaline got into position; Jesse came down and pulled Rachel gently onto the stage in the centre. "This is for you for when I'm in LA and the others are off at their colleges. The band struck up. Jesse and Andrea began as leads while the others sung chorus.

(_Jesse_, **Andrea**,_**Vocal Adrenaline**_, _**All**_)

_Another day has gone  
I'm still all alone  
How could this be  
You're not here with me  
You never said goodbye  
Someone tell me why  
Did you have to go  
And leave my world so cold_

Everyday I sit and ask myself  
How did love slip away  
Something whispers in my ear and says  
**That you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though you're far away  
I am here to stay  
**_  
__**But you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though we're far apart  
You're always in my heart  
But you are not alone**_

'Lone, 'lone  
Why, 'lone__

Just the other night  
I thought I heard you cry  
Asking me to come  
And hold you in my arms  
I can hear your prayers  
Your burdens I will bear  
But first I need your hand  
Then forever can begin

**Everyday I sit and ask myself  
How did love slip away  
Something whispers in my ear and says  
That you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though you're far away  
I am here to stay**__

You are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though we're far apart  
You're always in my heart  
you are not alone

Whisper three words and I'll come running  
And girl you know that I'll be there  
I'll be there

_**You are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though you're far away  
I am here to stay  
you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though we're far apart  
You're always in my heart**_

you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though you're far away  
I am here to stay

you are not alone  
I am here with you  
Though we're far apart  
You're always in my heart

For you are not alone...  
Not alone ohh  
You are not alone  
You are not alone  
Say it again  
_You are not alone  
You are not alone  
Not alone, Not alone  
If you just reach out for me girl  
In the morning, in the evening  
Not alone, not alone  
You and me not alone  
Oh together together  
Not not being alone  
Not not being alone_

As the song came to a close Rachel was surrounded by Vocal Adrenaline as each member hugged her. "Thank you." She sniffed as tears came to her eyes again.

"You don't deserve to be treated like that, I just wish you'd come here where you'd be worshipped." Andrea sighed. "And with you around Coach is nicer."

"I can't leave McKinley, I know it sounds weird right now but it's my home."

"Well you'll be our lucky charm." Andrea explained. "With you around in then we won't be soulless automatons; we can show more emotion in our songs and routines."

"That's why we want you to come with us to Regionals, to cheer us on." Jesse held the girl he now considered his sister. "And after we win we'll go out and celebrate the only way we know how."

"Karaoke." Everyone yelled and laughed.

Shelby watched from the director's desk with pride. Jesse had really grown up since he joined Vocal Adrenaline and meeting Rachel.

Jesse continued to hold Rachel closely, Karofsky and Azimio text him with daily updates about her bullying, he wished he could go back to McKinley, even if it was just for her, but his scholarship to UCLA was so important to him too and Rachel made him promise that he wouldn't let it go to waste. _'Those losers better watch out, this year's Funkification is going to be brutal, they're not going to know what him them.'_ He thought maliciously.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Vocal Adrenaline were ready, they'd planned for the Funkification to take place a week before Regionals, Rachel had accidentally told them that the New Directions get nervous very easily and will let the prank sit with them until just before the competition. Shelby and Coach Sylvester had arranged to use the auditorium while Jesse and Andrea gathered supplies for the second part of the prank; they'd decided to leave Rachel out of the plan until the last moment so that she wouldn't be in trouble.

A few days before they planned for the Funkification Quinn, Santana, Kurt and Mercedes were called into Figgins' office, along with their parents and Mr Schue, Hiram and Leroy Berry, Shelby and Coach Sylvester were waiting for them.

"I've called you here today to discuss Rachel Berry." Figgins began.

"Is she finally transferring? Good luck finding a school where she'll be accepted." Kurt couldn't help himself, eh cringed at the glare his dad gave him.

Figgins ignored the comment for the moment. "You four are responsible for the vandalism of Miss Berry's property, such acts will not be tolerated in this school." He looked sternly at them. "Thousands of dollars worth of damage, not to mention the personal damage towards Miss Berry's clothing before you threw a slushy at her." Coach Sylvester handed copies of photos taken of Rachel's car and what was left of her clothes to the parents in the room. "This kind of bullying and harassment has gone on long enough and I plan on putting a stop to it immediately."

The parents looked at the photos in horror. "Oh mijah, how could you?" Mrs Lopez asked sadly. "This is not how your father and I raised you."

"I did it for Quinn." Santana replied.

"She got what was coming to her," Quinn defended. "She's the reason my baby is dead." She summoned fake tears, if there was one thing she learned growing up, it was how to make anyone feel sorry for her.

"You shredded a blouse that I bought for her, she then had to walk home in soaked and stained clothes. She almost got sick again." Shelby glared seeing passed the girl's dramatics.

"What happened to you and your baby was an accident." Hiram Berry reasoned. "Rachel is a very caring and careful girl; there is no way that she'd leave anything in harm's way deliberately."

"She was late that day," Mr Schue spoke up. "She came in and carelessly threw her bag in the corner not looking where it landed. Poor Quinn tripped over the strap, if Rachel had been on time she could've put the bag so the strap wasn't in the way."

"Did you ask why she was late?" Coach Sylvester asked. "From her school records Miss Berry isn't known for her tardiness in any of her subjects or her extracurricular activities." She shared a small smirk with Shelby, if this didn't get Mr Schue in trouble with Figgins then his attitude would.

"I didn't ask, she probably did it to create a dramatic effect, she's like that all the time. Take for instance if I give a solo to someone else, she storms out and threatens to quit because the solos 'were made for her' it's ridiculous, the Glee club is about teamwork and Rachel can't seem to work in a team."

Figgins stared at his teacher in shock; William Schuester was supposed to be one of the few teachers that students felt comfortable with when it came to every day troubles, but all he was seeing now was a man who favoured a girl who had underage sex, got pregnant and lied about the paternity of the father to everyone.

Leroy could see that talking was getting them nowhere so he pulled out a few papers from his briefcase. "We've had the damage accessed by Mr Hummel, and have split the bill between the four of you, your parents aren't to pay for your actions, you are to raise the money and pay us for the damage you have caused." He handed the parents the documents.

"I'm also releasing you from Cheerio duty Lopez, you've disappointed me." Coach Sylvester added.

"What?! You can't do that to me, I'm head Cheerio." Santana stood up outraged.

"Not anymore."

"I should ban you four from Regionals, however Ms Corcoran had assured me that the team shouldn't be punished for your stupidity." Figgins added.

"This bill is coming out your allowance Mercedes, how could you treat someone like this?" Mrs Jones asked her daughter sadly.

"As Quinn said; she had it coming. Rachel's selfish when it comes to Glee," she turned to Hiram, Leroy and Shelby. "She may act like the perfect daughter but we know otherwise."

Mrs Fabray went to say something but was silenced when Quinn pinched her leg hard, a glare from her daughter told her to keep her mouth shut. Home life for the Fabray's was tense at the moment, Quinn and her father had all the power in the house whereas Mrs Fabray merely played the subservient house wife.

"I think we're done her for now." Shelby announced noticing Mrs Fabray's desire to speak only to be silenced by her daughter.

"Agreed," Figgins said. "You four have one week to apologise to Miss Berry or your punishments will come straight from Coach Sylvester." He dismissed them.

"Kurt I am so disappointed in you." Burt scolded as they got into the hallway. "Why would you hurt your friend like that?" Kurt ignored his father with a simple look that said 'you wouldn't understand.'

Mrs Lopez was scolding Santana in Spanish while Santana argued back, clearly upset that she'd been kicked off the Cheerios. Mrs Fabray remained silent as Quinn checked her reflection in her compact mirror. Mrs Jones was lecturing Mercedes on how un-Christian her actions were and that bullying was beneath her.

Once the parents left their children in the hallway Mr Schue came out, red in the face from arguing with Coach Sylvester. "Don't worry guys, I'll talk to Rachel, you won't have to pay the bills for this." He promised and left.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"I thought that the meeting with the principle and the parents was supposed to help," Rachel began. "Well it has a little, no one has slushied anyone due to the order by principle Figgins ordering the machines to be taken out of the cafeteria and told the store clerk at the 7/11 why kids from the school were really buying their supersized slushies." She paused.

"Rachel?" Ms Pillsbury gently pressed on.

"You need to tell them Rach," Karofsky nudged.

"They still glare at me and call me names when Coach Sylvester isn't around, the other day my locker was broken into and several packets of open meat were put in there. Mr Schue pulled me aside at the end of the lesson after the meeting and told me that I was being ridiculous, that it was only a harmless prank and a silly blouse, he said that I should tell my parents to retract the bills. If it wasn't for Karofsky, Azimio and Vocal Adrenaline I don't know what I'd do."

'_This man is driving me nuts, he's definitely treating this poor girl as though she's Terri.'_ Ms Pillsbury was getting tired of the man she had idolised for so long. "I'm going to recommend to principle Figgins that you stop taking Spanish, what Mr Schuester is doing is highly unprofessional and must be stopped before he loses his job. I also want you to remember the words your mother told you and to go home for the rest of the day and rest." She wrote a pass and handed it to Karofsky. "Will you please hand this to all of your teachers."

"Sure thing, would it be alright ifI drive Rachel home? Her car is still being worked on."

"Yes, please do."

"Thanks Ms Pillsbury." Rachel took a tissue and left the office while Karofsky continued to talk to the guidance councillor.

"Rachel?" She turned to see Noah, Tina, Artie, Mike and Matt. She suddenly became very scared and looked around to see if there was any way for her to escape. "Easy, we're not going to hurt you Rachel, we just want to talk." Noah began.

"Why?" She asked. "I killed your baby remember. Why can't you all just leave me alone." She broke down.

"We just want to-" Tina was cut off by Karofsky coming out of the office.

"Haven't you done enough to her?"

"We just wanted to apologise for the meat in her locker." Artie explained. "That was too far and Tine heard her throw up we knew we'd crossed the line."

"Rachel, I've been trying to talk to you for a while but you keep running from me, please talk to me." Noah begged.

"Well she can't right now, she's being sent home by Ms Pillsbury because she can't handle you guys right now."

"Please let me take her. Rachel, I don't blame you for what happened, I was hurt and let that cloud by judgement but I know that you didn't mean for it to happen." Noah pleaded with the shaking girl. _'She's going to have a panic attack.'_

"Rachel you need to breathe," Mike said. "You're going to pass out and hurt yourself."

Noah watched with jealousy as Karofsky took the girl into his arms and rubbed her back, getting her to copy his breathing. He knew that the football player had no romantic feelings for Rachel, but he also knew that Rachel trusted him more than anyone in the school. Once Rachel calmed down considerably Karofsky let go of her and looked at the pain in Noah's eyes.

"Rach, why don't you let Puckerman take you home? I can't really miss school and I can give this note to all of your teachers."

"But-"

"I promise that he won't hurt you, he only wants to talk. Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then I promise that if he hurts you then I will hurt him back."

"We'll go with them." Matt offered. He'd just witnessed the moment between Rachel and Karofsky and realised just how broken she really was about the whole thing. _'I never really teased her openly but I never did anything to stop the others either. I promised I'd never be a typical jock but lately that's all I've been.'_

"No, just Puckerman. If you want to make things up to her you can do it another time, take things one day at a time." Karofsky glared.

"Is there a problem here?" The rest of the Glee club turned up. Quinn was in front. "Careful guys, she'll fake cry herself so you feel sorry for her and ask her to come back."

"Shut it Fabray, you want fake look in the mirror." Karofsky snapped.

"Don't talk to her like that. Quinn's done nothing wrong." Finn defended.

"Oh really, so she never told you about the party?" Karofsky loved the look of fear on Quinn's face. "Maybe you should come clean Fabray, the truth is a good thing."

"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. I've done nothing wrong, Manhands here killed my baby and nothing you do or say is going to change that, she's a murderer and should be kicked out of this school." Quinn was getting hysterical. The Glee club took this as fear of Karofsky and Rachel so they glared at them and left, Noah told the he'd be there in a minute._ 'He's finally going to get her.' _Quinn felt confident, Noah was still the worst bully in the school, if he couldn't get Rachel to leave then no one could.

"You hurt her Puckerman and you deal with me, Azimio and Vocal Adrenaline." Karofsky hugged Rachel tightly before letting her go, Noah followed Rachel to her new locker where she gathered her homework, he saw how much Spanish homework she had, way more than the rest of the class, before following her to the parking lot. He opened the door to his truck for her and helped her climb in, unfortunately the moment he laid a hand on her she stiffened but said nothing. _'This could be a long ride.'_ He hurried round to the drivers' side, climbed in and drove out of the parking lot. _'This could be your only chance Puckerman, don't mess this up.'_


	5. Chapter 4

**_sorry it's really late guys, my Word messed up and had to re-type the whole thing on my Works instead, it's not as good as the others but it gives you the start of the Puckleberry relationship, plus I plan on the truth coming out next chapter which I will type and upload tonight. :)_  
**

**_I do NOT own Glee  
_**

**Chapter 4**

The journey from the school to Rachel's home was a tense one; she was terrified of what Noah would do to her, Noah was worried that Rachel was so scared of him that as soon as he stopped the truck she'd bolt out of the door before he could have a chance to talk to her.

"Uh Rachel? Can we stop somewhere and talk please? I promise nothing will happen, I just want to talk to you." he was relieved when she nodded her head tightly.

'_If he just wants to talk then he won't do anything to me right? Better get Karofsky's number ready just in case.'_ She pulled out her phone and typed Karofsky's number.

Noah pulled into a nearby car park, not far from her house, if she got too scared she could always get out of the truck and run away from him. He stopped the truck and turned to his old childhood friend.

"Look, I want you to know now that I don't blame you for what happened, it was an accident and it couldn't have been prevented."

"But she tripped over my bag because I was late, everyone else blames me why wouldn't you?"

"Because until you told Finn that he wasn't the father Quinn didn't want me to have anything to do with the baby, you did what she wasn't brave enough to do."

'_But I didn't tell Finn, I only outed Quinn into self confessing about the paternity.'_ Not that Rachel would ever say that out loud; no one would believe her.

"Regardless of how Finn found out I wanted to thank you, because you did that I got to be there for Quinn and my baby." Noah went to hold her hand but she jumped away from him. "You're really scared of me aren't you?" _'What have we done? Rachel was never scared of anything and now she's terrified.'_

"Can you blame me? You stuck meat in my locker, you've called me names and thrown slushies at me, your girlfriend and her friends wrecked my car and destroyed the blouse my mom bought me and none of you will talk to me unless it's to call me baby-killer or throw horrible insults at me." She ranted. "The only reason I still go to school is because I've never missed a day off in my life and I'm not going to start now."

"Look Rach, I never actually did any of that stuff, neither did Matt, Mike or Brittany." Noah explained.

"But you never did anything to stop it either."

Noah sighed, she was right; he never defended her, and if he did he made it look like he didn't really care about her when he did. They'd always looked out for each other ever since they first met at Temple when they were small children. They were each other's first kisses, granted that they were playing kiss chase in elementary school with other kids in the class but they had been inseparable. Unfortunately when high school came around and Rachel was shunned for her having big dreams while Noah was accepted straight away for his love of sports, Rachel made him promise her that no matter what he'd do what it took to make his dream of being a professional football player happen, in return she'd help him with his school work on the weekends and they'd always spend at least one night together having fun. Of course that changed when Noah was pressured into throwing the first slushy in her face, since then their friendship went down hill, they no long spent the weekends doing homework and they no longer went out to have fun, instead Rachel made sure to put notes on their homework in his locker and notes on what the teacher wanted.

"I don't know what you want me to do Rach but I promise you that I'll help you. I don't care if the Glee club kick me out, it's not fun anymore, Mr Schue just has us do these dance routines that aren't even that good, the man can't rap and he can't dance."

Rachel sighed. "Noah I appreciate that you're going out of your way to say that you don't blame me but it's not just you, it's everyone, that's why Coach Sylvester has Karofsky and Azimio looking out for me, I have to see Ms Pillsbury at least once or twice a week and my parents are worried about me. Mom wants me to move to Carmel but I can't, as much as the bullying hurts me McKinley is my home, plus my mom's leaving there next semester."

"And your boyfriend's going off to LA." Grumbled Noah, thinking Rachel hadn't heard him.

"Jesse's not my boyfriend Noah, he was once but we all know how that ended."

"So what is he now?"

"One of my best friends." Rachel didn't want to tell him that Jesse was gay, it wasn't her place. "He's the closest thing I have to a brother."

Noah though about it for a moment and then realised he'd run out of things to say to her; all he wanted to tell her was that he didn't blame her for the miscarriage and he'd done that, but he didn't want her to leave, he had missed spending time with her, Glee club was the only place he could do that without the football team giving him hassle.

"Uh, look Rach, I really want to make up for the last two years and especially lately, do you think I could be like Karofsky and Azimio; your bodyguard, I can get the rest of the Glee club to back off a little more." He couldn't promise that but he had to try.

"You can't promise that, they're going to blame me for what happened until Graduation. But I have missed you Noah, the way we were before high school, I'd like that back if you don't mind? Can we just take this one step at a time please?"

"Sure," Noah Beamed, this time when he went to hug her although she froze a little she didn't back away from him. "want to come over this weekend?"

"Ok, but not for long, I usually have dinner with my mom at the weekends." there was a silent pause. "Could you take me home now please?"

"Sure." Noah put the truck into drive and backed out of the parking lot, the rest of the ride home was less tense now that the air had been cleared but Noah knew he had a long way to go before he earned Rachel's trust completely.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Noah was late back for Glee, he gave Mr Schue some half assed excuse that he got a call from his mom about his sister and had to pick her up but when he looked at the rest of the team he knew they wanted answers, Quinn looked especially expectant. _'Does she think I roughed Rachel up?'_ He wondered.

"Ok, lets get started, Quinn and Finn why don't we start with your duet." Mr Schue beamed at the couple.

"Is Rachel really not coming back?" Brittany raised her hand innocently.

"No she's not." Quinn snapped. "I don't feel safe with her around."

"I have to agree with Quinn," Kurt added. "at least with her gone we all have a chance to sing a solo."

"But she's said that she was sorry, it really was an accident and she's really nice to all of us." Brittany pouted.

"Look Britt," Santana started gently. "that's just what she wants you to think, you know that the moment she comes back she'll kick off and hog all of the solos. Not to mention she doesn't listen to anybody's ideas."

"Santana's right." Mr Schue agreed. "We're a team, a family, and we've been functioning better without all of the drama Rachel brought here every day. Now let's get back to rehearsal, we only have a short time."

Outside of the choir room, Ms Pillsbury and Coach Sylvester shook their heads in sadness. Something really needed to be done about Mr Schue's teaching methods, the sooner the truth came out and the bullying stopped the better.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The following days were better for Rachel, only Quinn, Santana, Kurt and Mercedes bullied her, Finn was always with Quinn which they thought was killing Rachel but the truth was she had never wanted Finn in the first place; yes she said that he could kiss her but the moment he ran out of the auditorium she lost interest. Noah brought her baked cookies, vegan of course, every morning that his mom had made the night before, he still smiled when he told her that Rachel was coming over again this weekend, but frowned as she told him about another girl who died as a result of bullying.

"Hey Puck," he turned to see Mike and Matt. "who are the cookies for?"

"Rachel, she's slowly beginning to trust me and she's coming over this weekend before she has dinner with her mom."

"Noah." They all turned to see Rachel looking nervous. "You all need to go to the auditorium, it's nothing personal but it's tradition."

Leaving the boys confused she hurried away before the rest of the Glee club saw her with them and went to the library as she was instructed.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Ok Sue why do we have to be here? And what are you doing here?" Mr Schue asked when he saw Shelby in the auditorium.

"Just sit down William, we're still waiting on your little Glee club." Coach Sylvester instructed.

"I'm here as Sue's guest and as a concerned parent. I'm not happy with the way you've been treating my daughter and after today that will change." Shelby glared.

One by one the New Directions filed in and sat down with their director while Shelby got up onto the stage and addressed them.

"As part of show choir tradition, the reigning champions always Funkify the team they fell are most likely to beat them, Funkify is simple; we perform a Funk number and pull a prank." She explained. "After Sectionals when we saw you perform we knew you would be favourites to win, especially since you had Rachel, all the online gossip pages raved how you had the potential to beat us, but of course that was when you actually had a chance." She stepped off the stage and took a seat next to Coach Sylvester.

Jesse stepped forward. "We dedicate this Fuck number to our friend and sister. Hit it." He yelled at the band as he took lead vocals.

_**Steve walks warily down the street,with the brim pulled way down lowAin't no sound but the sound of his feet,machine guns ready to goAre you ready, Are you ready for thisAre you hanging on the edge of your seatOut of the doorway the bullets ripTo the sound of the beatAnother one bites the dustAnother one bites the dustAnd another one gone, and another one goneAnother one bites the dustHey, I'm gonna get you tooAnother one bites the dust**_

Their dancing was flawless, their timing was immaculate and their teamwork was impeccable.

_**How do you think I'm going to get along,without you, when you're goneYou took me for everything that I had,and kicked me out on my ownAre you happy, are you satisfiedHow long can you stand the heatOut of the doorway the bullets ripTo the sound of the beat**_

The New Directions could only watch in awe and fear, they'd never done a Funk number before and still pretty new to the show choir circuit they weren't sure that they could pull one off. The dance routine looked so complicated even Mike, Matt, Brittany and Santana would've had difficulty keeping up, the vocal was so strong Finn knew he couldn't compete, not even Kurt could.

_**Another one bites the dustAnother one bites the dustAnother one bites the dustAnother one bites the dustThere are plenty of ways you can hurt a manAnd bring him to the groundYou can beat himYou can cheat himYou can treat him bad and leave himWhen he's downBut I'm ready, yes I'm ready for youI'm standing on my own two feetOut of the doorway the bullets riprepeating the sound of the beat **_

By the time the song had finished Vocal Adrenaline weren't even out of breath whereas the New Directions knew that they would be struggling to breathe. Andrea stepped forward.

"Thanks for letting us use your auditorium, it's quaint." She smirked. "See you losers at Regionals."

Mr Schue was stunned, he hadn't been that freaked out since the Jane Adams school's Hairography routine. He squirmed in his seat slightly wondering what he could do to help his kids, _'maybe we can do a Funk number for Regionals as the group song, no it's too late for that now. Regionals is in a week, why did Shelby and Vocal Adrenaline have to do this now? I bet it was Rachel's idea, I've never heard of a Funkification tradition.'_ only to be broken out of his thoughts by Coach Sylvester's applause.

"Outstanding, truly outstanding. You could learn a lot of things from that woman William, maybe even a few hair styling tips, if only you hadn't allowed your students to bully her daughter and kick her out, Miss Berry could've helped you." She left before Mr Schue could respond.

"Mr Schue? What are we going to do?" Mercedes asked.

"There's no way we can pull off a number like that." Tina panicked. "If that's what the judges are looking for we'll be the laughing stock of the competition."

"Calm down Tina, we'll figure something out." Mike assured. _'Maybe I can talk to Rachel, get her input.'_ He turned to Matt, Brittany and Noah and knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"I can't perform under pressure." Kurt complained. "I can't do anything under pressure, my skin will break out and my daily facial rituals will be for nothing. Oh sweet Gucci I think I'm going to faint."

"Dude, I'm not carrying you to the nurse." Noah glared.

"How about we just get back to the choir room and we can figure this out, Tina the judges aren't looking for a Funk number so don't worry." He got up and the New Directions followed.

When they got there they stared in horror at the defaced choir room; toilet paper hung from every available surface, the band's instruments were all over the place, the whiteboard had the words 'THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT FABRAY! WATCH YOUR BACK!' written in red pen and the sheet music was spread out over the floor.

"Oh my god." Artie whispered as he picked up a pile of sheet music.

"Who did this?" Finn asked.

"It was obviously Vocal Adrenaline's prank." Santana picked up the toilet paper nearest her and threw it in the trash can.

"What about the message?" Matt spoke up. "Someone in this school knows something that Quinn's done."

"He's right." Mike agreed. "Whatever it is you've done Quinn we need to know, as your friends and team mates we have a right to know."

"I haven't done anything, I'm the victim here. Whoever wrote that is obviously jealous and will do whatever they can to try and ruin my life." _'They can't know, no one knows'_

"Come on guys let's not bicker, let's just get this place cleaned up and then we can begin rehearsals." Mr Schue intervened, he didn't like the way Mike and Matt were accusing her of something she couldn't have possibly done. They continued cleaning up the choir room before rehearsing for Regionals, Mr Schue could tell that they were still pretty shaken up by Vocal Adrenaline's Funkification but they pushed through, when they were done he held them back for a few minutes. "I know what they did was a little unnerving, but we're a strong team, nothing is going to break us."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"I can't do this." Rachel paced back and forth on the stage of the auditorium. "It's bad enough that I set them up for your song and prank but to do this so close to Regionals would crush them."

"What are you talking about?" Jesse pulled her into his arms. "They're the cause of your misery, they've hurt you. You have the opportunity to get them back and you don't want to do it now?"

"Tina, Artie, Mike, Matt and Noah tried to apologise the other day, Brittany actually smiled at me and sat next to me in the library for study hall. I know they kicked me out but they've been trying to be nice to me lately."

"Ok, new plan. We still show them the truth but you can warn Puckerman and that Brittany girl." Jesse compromised. "Then if you still feel guilty you can help them with Regionals."

"They'll never take me back after this."

"Honey, they'll be begging you to come back." Jesse smiled. "It's about time they know the truth, you've been suffering for long enough."

Rachel thought for a moment, Jesse was right of course, she had been suffering the Glee club's abuse for long enough, but she didn't want to hurt them further by outing Quinn with the truth about how her baby really died so close to the competition and so soon after Vocal Adrenaline Funkified them. _'Noah's going to hate me. We've been getting on so well and now I'm going to ruin it all by doing this, it's almost as bad as Quinn keeping the paternity of the baby from everyone.'_ She thought back to the weekend where she, Noah and Noah's sister Sarah had all played Sing Star together, it was the first time Rachel had sung since being kicked out of the club and it showed.

_FLASHBACK_

"Noah this is so much fun, can Rachel come over every weekend?" Sarah was only nine but she idolised Rachel ever since she saw her perform at Sectionals.

"You'd have to ask her Sarah." Noah smirked at Rachel knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist Sarah's puppy dog eyes.

"I'd love to come every weekend Sarah, I've missed you." Rachel hugged the young girl.

"Come on, let's play Sing Star, Rachel has the best voice, that's why you won your competition." Sarah set up the Xbox and handed Rachel a microphone.

Rachel froze. "I'm not sure Sarah, I haven't done any singing in a while, how about you and Noah sing for a bit and then I'll join in later."

"But I want to sing with you." Sarah pouted.

'_She loves to sing, why would she not want to now?'_ "When you say in a while do you mean since Mr Schue kicked you out?"

Rachel nodded. "I haven't really needed to so I don't sing. I've deactivated my MySpace page, I was getting more negative comments on there, and other than mouthing along the words to Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsals I haven't been singing."

Noah looked down guiltily. _'I can't believe we did that to her.'_ "Rach, you've always been amazing no matter what the circumstances, please sing. You and I can do a duet too."

Rachel couldn't explain it, but the way he said it made her heart flutter and made her like she could take on the world. She took the microphone, Sarah jumped with joy and chose a song, she was a little rusty at first but after awhile she began to relax and felt like herself again, they spent hours playing Sing Star, so many that Rachel almost forgot it was time for dinner with her mom until Rebecca came down and told her that her mom was there to pick her up. She gathered her things and began to leave before stopping and turning back, she threw herself into Noah's arms and held on tightly, shocked at first Noah soon regained himself and hugged her back just as tight.

"I've missed you so much Rach." He whispered.

"I've missed you too Noah." She pulled away. "I'll see you at school, thanks for having me over Mrs Puckerman."

"My pleasure, anytime dear."

_END FLASHBACK_

"Rachel?" Jesse waved his hand in front of her face. "You there?"

"Sorry was just remembering." She took a breath. "You're right, I need to do this."

"Ok, let's get set up." They got to work making sure that everything was ready before signalling to Coach Sylvester to go get the New Directions. This was going to be the Funkification to end all Funkifications.__


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

An hour after the New Directions began cleaning and rehearsing Mr Schue received a phone call from none other than Sue Sylvester, while Noah got a call from Rachel, he was the only one of the Glee club to have her new number, the message was to meet back in the auditorium for another surprise.

When they got there Vocal Adrenaline were sitting in the back rows, Ms Pillsbury, Coach Sylvester and Shelby were setting up an overhead projector, Karofsky and Azimio were attaching wires from a laptop to the projector and Rachel was typing on the laptop.

"What's going on Sue?" Mr Schue asked. "Emma?"

"Take a seat Will, we're just waiting on a few more people." Ms Pillsbury explained.

Soon more seats were filled, this time by the parents of the Glee club, principle Figgins and the doctor who treated Quinn in the hospital.

"I've prepared an educational video and have asked Dr Lang to come and answer any questions you all might have." Coach Sylvester explained. "I believe this bullying has gone on long enough and will stop now."

'_Rachel's gone too far this time, what is she up to?'_ Mr Schue glared at the girl. She shrank a little at the awful gaze which Ms Pillsbury and Shelby noticed.

"Will don't look at her like that, she didn't want to do this today but she's not happy and at serious risk. Something needs to be done and you need to know the truth." Ms Pillsbury scolded. "We're ready whenever you are Rachel."

"Remember Berry, you're doing the right thing here."

"And remember what I told you." Shelby hugged her daughter.

"You are kind, you are smart, you are important and you are loved." Rachel recounted.

'_What is this crap? I want to get out of here.'_ Quinn was bored. She shared an eye roll with Santana before looking back onto the stage.

Rachel pressed a few keys before One Republic's 'Apologise' came quietly through the speakers. Various pictures came onto the large screen, all were of a pregnant Quinn all dressed up for a party along with several other Cheerios.

"Hey that's my party a month ago." Santana blurted. "How did you get these RuPaul? You weren't invited."

"Hush little girl." Shelby snapped.

The slides continued with Quinn getting more and more drunk in each picture, she was hanging all over boys and girls alike, drinking beers, wine coolers and even shots.

Noah looked at Quinn. "Are you serious? You drank while you were pregnant?" She ignored him, her face getting whiter and whiter. _'How did she get these photos, Ben Israel promised that no one would know what happened at the party.' _She panicked.

"These photos have obviously been altered to make it look like Quinn." Mr Schue had had enough. "Come on guys it's time to go."

"Hold your horses William, there's more." Coach Sylvester said.

A video played of the party, Quinn was doing body shots off of some football player's body and screaming. _"I never wanted this stupid baby, it's ruining my life."_ A slightly less drunk Cheerio came over to her and told her to stop but Quinn shoved her away. _"I'm the Queen Bitch here Kathy, I don't want this baby, it's all Manhands' fault I'm even pregnant. She flaunted herself at my boyfriend so I'm going to ruin her life. I want her as miserable as I am. I want her to suffer. I want her out of that God awful club then Figgins has no choice but to shut the joke down. I want her out of the school, out of this town, heck off of this planet. Fuck Rachel Berry and her I'm going to be a big Broadway star shit, fuck this stupid baby, I'd rather die than have Puckeman's baby." _The other Cheerio told her to calm down or she could hurt the baby. _"Don't you get it Kathy, I. Don't. Want. This. Stupid. Thing. I'm getting rid of it and I'm making Berry take the fall. Puckerman would've been a deadbeat dad anyway, just like his old man."_ A designated driver came over and took the bottle out of her hands. _"That's enough Fabray, Kathy's right you need to stop and think about the baby, yeah it sucks that you're a pregnant teen but don't bring Puck's name through the mud like that, it's not his fault his dad left."_

'_Where was I for all of this? I could've said something from the start.'_ Santana was beginning to feel so much guilt for the bullying Rachel had been through and it wasn't even her fault.

'_I knew she didn't want to keep the baby but she was willing to kill it and blame Rachel?'_ Artie looked at the shaking girl. _'That's messed up.'_

'_If Rachel knew about this all this time then why didn't she say something before? Why did she put up with all the bullying?'_ Tina had tears in her eyes. She had caused her friend unnecessary pain.

The video continued. It showed more footage of Quinn dancing on tables and drinking more alcohol, the New Directions could see Karofsky and Azimio in the background and it made sense why they protected Rachel. By the time the video ended not only were the New Directions furious with Quinn, but the parents were too. They all stared at the sobbing girl.

"That party was three days before Fabray fell in Glee club." Coach Sylvester looked to the doctor. "Dr Lang would you please explain to these stupid children and their single minded teacher what you found."

Doctor Lang stood and addressed the audience. "The baby was is full rigor which is why Miss Fabray found it difficult to deliver, a full blood count and a post-mortem showed incredibly high levels of alcohol and prescription drugs in the placenta and the baby's blood. Although there was blood when Miss Fabray fell there the baby had been dead for several days, my guess was that Miss Fabray continued drinking after the party, experienced stomach cramps which are normal for miscarriages and took prescription drugs to ease the pain. I did explain it to your mother Miss Fabray, did she not tell you?"

"Yes I did, I had no idea that she blamed your daughter Hiram and Leroy I am truly sorry. Ever since she got kicked off of the Cheerios for being pregnant and when her father kicked her out something inside her changed, she was raised to value life not to destroy it." Mrs Fabray explained.

"Oh do shut up mother, no one cares what you say." Quinn snapped and stood up. "That girl has ruined my life and I wanted her to pay, but I would never have thought she'd go as far to create fake photos and fake videos. Bravo RuPaul, you've really outdone yourself this time." She applauded.

"They're not fake." Santana announced.

"Shut up Lopez." Quinn looked at her warningly.

"No, you're not the boss of me. That was my party, I invited you because you told me you needed to de-stress and have a normal teenage night so I bought non-alcoholic drinks for you, I don't know what happened but I must've gotten so drunk and forgotten about it, I never even asked Jew Fro for the photos or the video." Santana stood up. "Mami I am so sorry."

"It's not me you need to apologise to mijah." Mrs Lopez explained.

"Your mom's right." Shelby spoke up. "You killed that baby, pinned the blame on my daughter and until Sue gave her the evidence she actually believed that she had caused your miscarriage. You kicked her out of a club that desperately needs her and you tortured her for something she didn't do."

"She's only just started singing, she's had two former bullies protect her from you and had to have weekly counselling to cope." Hiram was enraged at Mr Schuester. "You're supposed to be her teacher, she looked up to you, she always said that you were the one teacher to care about the welfare of these kids and there you were protecting a spoilt brat and not doing anything about the bullying."

"She lost so much weight an so much sleep." Leroy explained. "If Shelby, Karofsky and Azimio and Vocal Adrenaline hadn't been there she would've taken her own life. We would have lost our baby girl because you were blinded by a lie."

"Noah actually managed to get her to sing at the weekend." Mrs Puckerman explained. "He said that he apologised and that he was working on making it up to her."

"He did." Rachel spoke for the first time. "He's been wonderful."

There was a silence before Finn stood up. "Look, I know how we can fix this." He turned to face Rachel. "We're really sorry Rachel, please come back to Glee club. With you back on the team we can beat Vocal Adrenaline and you can be the lead again." he smiled thinking Rachel would run into his arms and agree.

"You Can't just ask her to do that after a half assed apology." Jesse stood up outraged.

"Oh please," Kurt scoffed. "Rachel lives for Glee, she'll come back."

"I don't want to." Rachel surprised them. She took a deep breath. "It's a team decision, either you all want me back or you don't and until you decide I can't give you an answer. I've been hurt by all of you and now I don't feel safe with you anymore. I'm sorry."

She ran off the stage and out of the auditorium, her parents and Vocal Adrenaline followed

Mr Schue sat stunned as the remaining parents and the doctor left. "William I expect to see you in my office tomorrow morning." principle Figgins said sternly before addressing Quinn. "Young lady you are in a world of trouble." he left.

'_Emma was right; I've been so blinded by the betrayal of Terri that I made Rachel my scape-goat. I wouldn't be surprised if I lost my job because of this.'_

"Nice going genius." Artie addressed Finn. "Real nice apology considering what we did to her."

"We need to fix this." Mercedes decided before turning to Quinn. "You've ruined everything, we could've won Regionals if we had Rachel and now she's not coming back to us."

"You bullied her too," Quinn defended herself. "You and Kurt were glad that she was gone, look at all of the solos you've been getting, look at how much fun we have without her."

"But she was the one to always remind us that we needed to practice too." Kurt said. "Yes it was nice and quiet with her gone but deep down we all missed her, I guess we got so protective of your baby and felt so sorry for you being kicked off of the Cheerios that we were blind sided by the fact that you lied to everyone about the baby in the first place."

"You didn't want me to be the father, you said that you'd rather go to your grave saying that she was Finn's, you called me a Lima Loser, if Rachel hadn't told Finn then I would've never been part of that baby's life."

"Actually Rachel didn't tell me." Finn confessed still stunned that his apology hadn't worked.


	8. Chapter 7

**_Sorry it's taken so long guys, been doing my Child Care and Development assignment and riding the horses, I have another chapter written and will type it tomorrow for you guys. Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed it means a lot that you like the story so far._  
**

**Chapter 7**

"What do you mean Rachel didn't tell you?" Mr Schue asked.

"She was the only one to gain anything from you and Quinn not being together." Reasoned Kurt. "It was certainly no secret that she wanted you."

"Did she want Finn?" Asked Brittany. "I thought she loves Puck."

"Don't be ridiculous, of course she wanted Finn," Mercedes snapped. "She was all over him every rehearsal."

"Except for the time where she gave him vocal coaching in here and she came out looking quite pale muttering to herself never again." Tina interjected. "That was before the Cheerios joined, when it was just us original five plus Finn when he felt like it."

"It doesn't matter if she wanted him or not." Noah was inwardly smiling at Brittany's words. "Who told you?" He asked Finn.

"Jacob Ben Israel has this school bugged, he said he overheard Rachel asking Quinn about some Jewish genetic disorder, he saw Quinn panic and went to you to ask if you had it. Then he came up to me and asked how I felt about my best friend knocking up my girlfriend, I was still confused so I did some research and it turns out that you can't get someone pregnant in a hot tub, I asked Rachel the next day expecting her to tell me straight away, when she said she didn't know anything I came and found out for myself." Finn explained.

"Yeah, dude, there is no Jewish genetic disorder, Rachel said that to Quinn so that her hunch was right." Noah smirked proud that Rachel could come up with a plausible lie that would force Quinn to slip up.

Mr Schue was stunned, all of this time he'd been blaming Rachel for causing problems and unnecessary drama within the club when in fact she had nothing to do with Finn leaving the group the day before Sectionals. _'I can't believe I let the bullying go on like this. I should've listened to her, let hr explain her side of the story, we could have avoided all of this mess.'_

"We need to make this up to her, apologise sincerely and show her that we mean it and that we want her back." Mike announced.

"Yeah, your apology wasn't good enough." Matt said to Finn.

"What we need to do is do the best thing we know how;" Mercedes began. "sing our apology. It'll be the perfect way to show her that we want her back and that we care about her."

'_I wonder what's going to happen to me. No one's said a word to me or even looked at me since she left.'_ Quinn wondered nervously. She hated being ignored but she'd make an exception for this moment.

"I think we should all go home, we aren't going to get much more rehearsal in now." Artie reasoned.

"We can try tomorrow if she'll even talk to us." Tina pushed her boyfriend out of the auditorium, closely followed by the other members except for Quinn.

"Mr Schue?" She spoke up quietly.

"Not now Quinn ok, you've really hurt people now. I think you and I need to think about our past actions and how they've affected the others. I'll see you tomorrow." He got up and left.

Quinn sat there in her seat, this time real tears fell from her eyes, they were tears of fear. What was going to happen to her now? They couldn't kick her off of the team so close to Regionals could they? The had done to Rachel but that was when they believed Quinn about the miscarriage. Would they do to her what she wanted them to do to Rachel? Shakily getting up she left the auditorium, terrified of what was to come. _'Daddy has to help me, he has to get me out of this mess.'_

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Rachel sighed as she sat in the park, after convincing her parents and Jesse that she was fine and just wanted to think and be alone she managed to escape to the one place where she and Noah would come as children. What had she done? She had quite possibly ruined the New Directions' chances at Regionals, ruined the New Directions. _'Things were so much simpler when I was younger. Before high school, before petty jealousy.'_

FLASHBACK

"_Come on Noah push me higher, I want to fly." She squealed happily as her fathers and Mrs Puckerman watched their children play._

"_No Rach, you'll fall and hurt yourself and cry, I don't like it when you cry." Seven year old Noah always worried about his best friend._

"_But I'm a bird, I love to fly." She shouted happily. "Please push me higher I promise I won't get hurt."_

_Noah pushed her a little harder, she soared into the air, she let go of the chain to hold her arms out like a bird when she lost her balance coming back and she fell off. Rolling into the dirt she sat up._

"_Rach. Are you ok? Why did you let go?" Noah ran to her, their parents were also coming over having seen the whole thing. "Where does it hurt?"_

"_My knees." She hiccupped trying to not cry. "I'm sorry Noah I didn't mean to break my promise." She finally cried._

"_I'm more worried about you being hurt than you breaking your promises. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you Rach." He kissed her lips gently._

END FLASHBACK

That was her first kiss with Noah, of course they had their first make out when they dated but they had kissed after that day, little pecks now and again but nothing big until they began dating.

"Berry?" she looked round to see Santana and Brittany at the gate. She panicked and began looking for another escape but there wasn't one. "Relax Berry, we're not going to do anything."

"We want to talk Rachel, swing with me, I love the swings." Brittany joined her on the swings as Santana looked on fondly at the blonde girl "I'm so excited for Regionals, I think we're going to do really well. Are you going to be there with your mom? I think it's great that she came back."

Santana saw Rachel freeze at the word Regionals.

"Uh, yeah, mom asked me to sit with her while Vocal Adrenaline perform."

"So you're going to be cheering for them?" Santana asked. "It wouldn't surprise me considering how badly we treated you."

"I'm cheering for New Directions too." She defended.

"Chill Berry, I know." Santana held up her hands. "Look, I know that I was never nice to you and I helped to make your high school life hell for the last two years but I wanted to apologise for all of that, especially recently. I should've said something about Quinn coming to my party and then her feeling sick the next morning, she told me there was still a little Morning Sickness but I should've seen that she was hungover."

"I get it Santana, she was your best friend, when you were both Cheerios she was your captain, the loyalty factor stopped you from speaking out and you didn't know all of the facts. But thank you for your apology, I accept it." She smiled and began to relax. Then her phone rang. "Hello?"

"_Hey can you come over please?"_

"Sure, I'll be there soon." She hung up. "I'm sorry girls, that was Noah, he wanted me to go to his house."

"Wanky." Santana smirked.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh, it felt good to laugh again. "Thank you Santana."

"My pleasure, and soon yours." she winked. "No go be with your man."

"He's not my man." Rachel blushed before getting up, giving Brittany a hug and leaving.

"Not yet he's not, and you so want him to be." Santana said quietly.

"He wants her too. Wouldn't that be exciting Santana? Puckleberry 2.0." Brittany smiled.

"Sure would Britt." Santana joined her best friend on the swing. _'So would a PezBrittBerry friendship, it'll happen, I've got a lot to make up for though.'_

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Hi." Noah greeted as Rachel walked up the front lawn to his house.

"Hi." She replied looking at her feet. "Look about today-"

"It's ok, I'm glad the truth came out, you should've seen everyone after you left. You didn't deserve to be treated the way you were." He sighed. "How long had you known?"

"Coach Sylvester blackmailed Jacob into handing over the photos and the video, she told him she couldn't have drunken photos and videos of her Cheerios online. She gave them to me about a week after your daughter died but I didn't look at them for another week."

"You knew almost the whole time? You could've put a stop to the bullying but you didn't, why?"

"I didn't want to do it so close to Regionals, I wanted to wait until after but mom, Coach Sylvester and Jesse all reminded me that if I didn't do something now then I wouldn't have done it at all." She explained. "I am so sorry, I should've told you and I've probably messed up your chances at Regionals, I'll understand if you never want to see me or talk-"

"Rach calm down, easy." Noah pulled her into a hug. "You're going to work yourself into a panic attack. Look, I'm glad that the truth came out, to be honest I had my doubts from the beginning; when I held my daughter I felt that there was something wrong, yeah she was cold but she shouldn't have been so stiff. It wasn't until the day before your old locker got meat put in it that I watched CSI and learned that rigor takes hours to set in and that's why she was stiff."

There was silence for a minute, Noah felt tears coming to his eyes as he thought of his lost daughter, Rachel cried at the pain in Noah's voice.

"Do you want to come in?" Noah asked. "We can play Sing Star or something."

"I'd like that." Keeping one arm around her shoulders Noah guided her into the house.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

The next morning Mr Schue sat in Figgins' office waiting for the man to give him his punishment. The worst that could happen was that he was fired and his teaching licence revoked, the best was that he was just suspended, he had no idea what was going to happen and that scared him, he didn't like not knowing.

"Well William," Figgins came in and sat opposite him. "you really made a mess of things lately; you allowed you Glee kids to pick on one of their own for months, then kicked her out for something she didn't do, allowed your kids to torture and harass her and even bullied her a little yourself."

Mr Schue looked down in shame. He'd really messed up this time. This was it. He was fired.

"I should fire you on the spot." He flinched at Figgins' harsh tone. "However, I spoke with Miss Berry just now and she explained the stress you're going through with your divorce and how creepy your ex-wife is being at the moment. So I've decided that after Regionals, whether you place or not, you are to take a break and sort yourself out, go on vacation or something just take time for yourself."

"So I'm not fired?" Mr Schue was shocked. He thought for sure he'd be thrown out.

"No, but I want you to seriously think about the way you treat your students in the future, they come to you for advice and guidance, not to be ridiculed. You're one of the few teachers I have at this school that the students look up to, remember that." Mr Schue took that as a dismissal and stood up. "Good luck at Regionals, and if you ever manage to convince Miss Berry to come back, you can have another year."

"Thanks." _'I think we're going to need the luck. Even if we don't place Rachel just might be able to save the club.'_

He passed Ms Pillsbury's office and stopped when he heard her calling him, he stepped in and took a seat. "How did it go?" She asked.

"Well, I'm not fired but after Regionals I have to take sometime for myself." He sighed. "God I really messed up Emma, I should have been fired for my actions; I've always said that bullying is wrong and yet I was no better than the kids attacking Rachel."

"I won't disagree but you have the chance to fix it now."

"But how? How can the Glee club and myself possibly make this up to Rachel, I don't think there's a song out there that can express how sorry we are. It's because of Rachel that I still have my job, I was using her as a scape-goat for Terri and she saves my job when she could've told Figgins to throw me out."

"Maybe talking to her would be a start. Just the two of you."

He thought about it before nodding and getting up. "Thanks Emma. You're wonderful." He smiled at her blush before leaving for his next class.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Meanwhile Quinn was having a horrible day; once the truth had spread like wildfire she was shunned by those who had given her pity, she was shoved into lockers and she was ignored by those who idolised her. _'Is this what Berry went through?'_ She didn't like it.

By the time it came for her to meet with principle Figgins and her parents she was a nervous wreck, of course that was a façade for her father, she waited in his office twiddling her thumbs, her parents hadn't arrived yet but principle Figgins was staring hard at her with a disapproving scowl.

"So sorry we're late principle Figgins." Her father burst into the office. "My meeting ran over, you understand." Mr Fabray sat on one side holding her hand while Mrs Fabray sat the other, she tried to take her daughter's hand but was rejected.

"I'm sure you both know why you have been called here." Figgins didn't miss the interaction between mother and daughter.

"Because of our daughter's un-Christian behaviour." Mr Fabray explained. "Judy and Quinn told me everything."

"Good, well I want to discuss your daughter's punishment. I have arranged with our guidance councillor for Quinn to see a therapist weekly, after Regionals she is suspended, she will not be returning to the Cheerios in September, she and the rest of the Glee club will be receiving detentions and helping the janitor clean the school every day, she must publicly apologise to Miss Berry and over the summer she is to volunteer at the hospital, I already have a member of staff there who will be watching her."

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Mr Fabray protested. "She got rid of a mistake, blamed another girl and it got a little bit out of hand. It's not like she told anyone else to torture the girl, from what Quinn tells me this Rachel Berry is a drama queen and will do anything for attention. No one was really hurt."

"Richard-"

"Not now Judy." Mr Fabray snapped at his wife. "Principle Figgins, I know my daughter, she's not a bad girl, we've raised her right. She told me that Rachel Berry wanted her boyfriend for herself and would do anything to have him, Quinn's not entirely blameless, if anything Miss Berry brought this upon herself. How much is this going to take for you to ease the punishment?" He pulled out his cheque book and Quinn felt hope rise within her. _'I knew daddy would pull through, Figgins can't resist money.'_ "Let Quinn go back to the Cheerios in the fall, cancel the therapy and the volunteering because they're unnecessary. Think about how this is going to look on her permanent record and her college applications."

"I will not sway the punishment, what your daughter did could be considered murder, teenage pregnancy may be frowned upon but it is still a life and it was very 'un-Christian' of your daughter to decide that her baby wasn't going to have a chance. Your daughter also defaced property and committed acts of vandalism. The punishments stay so I suggest you put away your cheque book." Figgins bristled. _'So this is where the girl gets her attitude from.'_

"Very well. You're going to regret this Figgins, my daughter only did the right thing." Mr Fabray got up. "Come along Judy we're leaving, maybe we should be looking into alternative schools for the fall." They left the office.

"You may go back to your class Miss Fabray." Figgins wrote and handed her a pass.

'_My parents were no help at all, my stupid mother just sat there looking pathetic as always, it was only a stupid baby and she's letting me take all of that punishment for something that came from Puckerman, my life is over. If they can't help me then I'll have to get someone else to help me, Finn will; he's totally in love with me that he'll do anything for me. Maybe Kurt and Mercedes too, they never really like Manhands.' _She entered her Spanish class and handed Mr Schue the note before taking her seat in the back row completely ignoring every one. _'I'm not done with you yet Berry, you think you can make my life hell cause you can't take a little hardship, well you have no idea what's coming next.'_


	9. Chapter 8

**_Ok guys, thanks to all of the reviews, I love them all, I never thought that my writing would be this good. Official Puckleberry will be in the next chapter but I thought I'd give you the introduction to the PezBrittBerryChang friendship I plan on building up. And although the other members of Glee aren't always featured that will change and their apologies will be there too. I don't want you to think that Rachel is being too forgiving but it's what I would do if i could see that someone was sincere in their apology, I believe in forgiveness and second chances. Keep reading and reviewing, I love writing for you guys :)_  
**

**Chapter 8**

Mr Fabray tried to appeal his daughter's punishment with the school board with no luck; the board felt that the punishment was justified and that she should be grateful she hadn't been arrested or kicked out of the school for her actions, this left Mr Fabray and Quinn furious, Mrs Fabray was worried that her daughter would do something stupid and kept an eye on her while she was at home and asked Coach Sylvester to watch her at school.

The New Directions received their punishment the next day; Figgins came into their rehearsals and announced that they'd receive detentions every day after Regionals and they were to help the janitor clean the school after glee club rehearsals every day. Of course Kurt and Mercedes protested saying that it was child labour but the decision was made, and in the middle of all of this they were still trying to make up for what they had done to Rachel. Santana and Brittany spent all of their free time with her, they became fast friends, Rachel even asked Coach Sylvester to let Santana back on the Cheerios, they looked out for each other even though with the new strict non-bullying policy there was no need.

"Hey Rachel, can I talk to you?" Tina approached the girl's locker, she saw Karofsky and Azimio in the corner of her eye and although they didn't need to protect Rachel anymore they still liked to.

"Sure, let me just stick my books in here."

Tina caught sight of a photo of the Glee club when Mr Schue first had the auditions. _'Things were so much simpler back then.'_ She sighed inwardly.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked when she saw Tina tear up.

"I just saw that photo in your locker and was thinking that I miss the old days." She explained.

"Ah yes, before the jocks and the Cheerios joined to make up the numbers so we could compete." Rachel smiled.

Tina's tears leaked and she sniffed. "Rachel I am so sorry for what I've done, I was wrong and I understand if you won't forgive me." She sobbed.

Rachel pulled the girl into her arms and rubbed her back soothingly. "Sh, it's ok. You had no idea that Quinn was lying, no one did, yeah you took the wrong road but you made a mistake and I can see that you're sorry now. So please don't cry, you'll start me off too."

"I'm sorry. I always thought that you were a selfish, controlling, diva but I was so wrong. We always took you for granted and now we've lost you." Tina's sobs got worse so Rachel pulled her closer.

"I forgive you Tina, although my fathers and I are Jewish my mom is Christian and she's always believed in forgiveness. I know how sorry you are, you tried to apologise the day I found meat in my locker. I accept your apology, and as for losing me; I'm still around, I'm just not on the team anymore." She let go of Tina and gave her a tissue. "Please don't worry about it anymore."

"Thank you." Tina sniffed. "Do you want to do something with me and Mike this weekend? Mike's asking Puck now."

"I'm sure we'd love to. Let me give you my number." She wrote it on a piece of paper. "I had to get a new one because I was receiving calls and texts from unknown numbers late into the night, even if I turned off my phone the texts would be there the next morning." She explained when she saw Tina's confused face.

'_We bullied her so much she even had to change her number?'_ "What about your Facebook and MySpace"

"They're still active but I cleaned out my friends list, not that there were many." Rachel looked round. "I'd better go, Karofsky and Azimio promised Noah they'd take me home, have fun in Glee." she left and was instantly surrounded by the two former bullies.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Ok guys, I know we've had a rough week but we're still a team." Mr Schue began the pep-talk. "We can't forget what we've done to Rachel, only make amends and move forwards but for now we have to focus on Regionals and show Vocal Adrenaline that they can't scare us."

"Ever notice that just before a competition there's always drama to do with Quinn?" Santana smirked unconsciously rubbing her Cheerios uniform. "Just saying."

"Santana no is not the time." Mr Schue sighed. "We need to work as a team and we can't do that if we're not getting along."

"Hey I'm just saying. And we'd have this competition in the bag if Quinn hadn't messed up and we all blamed Rachel for it."

"She's right." Noah agreed.

"It doesn't matter anymore, it's done." Quinn snapped staring enviously at the Cheerio. "Can we please get on with rehearsals? We still have to clean the school afterwards." _'Stupid RuPaul, I'm not made for cleaning.'_

"Something I am not looking forward to." Kurt sniffed haughtily. "I'm pretty sure that janitors are hired to do it not kids, have you seen the boys' bathroom?"

"Well we deserve it." Artie glared. "Now let's get on with rehearsals."

"Let's do it." Finn got up.

'_This team is falling apart, an I can't help but feel that things aren't going to get better.'_ Mr Schue looked worriedly at his students.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Come on Rachel, please come back to Glee club." Finn begged for the fifth time that day, and they hadn't even had second period yet.

"No Finn. Not only is it too close to the competition but I don't want to."

"But you came back at Invitationals during the second half."

"That was different, none of you had bullied me for a month for something that your girlfriend did. In fact if I remember correctly, I was going to come back before Invitationals but then I found out you used me to come back because you wanted a singing scholarship so you could support a child that wasn't yours in the first place." Rachel had almost had enough of Finn today. "You can't just say sorry moments after learning the truth and just expect me to jump back into your arms. Why do you want me on the team Finn? Really? Why should I come back?"

"Because we need you; you know all of Vocal Adrenaline's weaknesses and secrets, you can help us win an knock them off of that pedastal they put themselves on."

"That's cheating Finn and I don't condone it."

"What's condone?" Finn shook his head. "Look, we all know that now you know your mom and you've got a position of power over us but face it Rachel, you want to jump ship and go to Vocal Adrenaline. You know that your mom is just going to abandon you again, she didn't want a teenage daughter she wanted a baby, she might've even adopted Puck and Quinn's baby if she'd lived, she's going to leave you again and you'll be alone." Finn regretted it the moment he said it. "Rachel I am so sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm just frustrated that you won't come back, I take it all back."

"That's the problem Finn, once you've said it you can't take it back, and you must've meant it." Rachel wouldn't let him see her cry so she walked away.

"Dammit." Finn hit the locker next to him. "Ouch." He complained when his hand throbbed. _'Well that didn't turn out how I planned.'_ He sighed and went to the nurse.

Meanwhile Rachel was being comforted by Santana, Brittany and Tina in one of the girls' bathrooms.

"Come on Rach, you know he was just being mean." Brittany rubbed her legs.

"Yeah, don't let that idiot get to you. Your mom's here to stay." Santana smiled and pulled her friend into a hug.

"It's not just that, he wants me back because I know Vocal Adrenaline's secrets, he wants me to help you guys cheat."

"That's pretty wrong," Tina spoke up. "if we're going to win or even place then it should be because we've worked hard, not because we know dirty laundry."

"I can't believe Finn said you were going to leave us for them though, that was really mean." Brittany looked as though she was about to cry. "I'd miss you if you left Rachie."

"I'd miss you too Britt, all of you."

"Did you ever think we'd be here?" Santana asked with a smile.

"Not in a million years, it may have started out horribly but I wouldn't change this friendship for anything." Tina shared her smile.

"I agree. Thanks girls. I love you all."

"We love you too Rach." Tina said. "Come on, we'd better get to class, if I'm late for history again Ms Fuller will kill me."

Later that day Noah cornered Finn. "You're supposed to be apologising to Rachel not pushing her away."

"I did apologise, I was the first to apologise." Finn defended. "Have you apologised?"

"You call that half ass apology in the auditorium a sincere apology? You're lucky she's giving you the time of day. And for your information I apologised the day you lot stuffed meat in her old locker." Noah really wanted to hit Finn.

"Look, I panicked and said the wrong thing, it'll be fine, I'll get her back into Glee club before Regionals." Finn was confident. "Where is she? She wasn't in class."

"She was in the bathroom with Satan, Brittany and Tina, she probably went to see Ms Pillsbury afterwards though. You can't say shit about her mom like that, it's just wrong."

"What did she tell you?"

"Everything, including that you want her on the team to cheat. Dude you know Rach isn't like that, she hates cheating."

"Is that what condone means?"

Noah wanted to face palm himself and them punch Finn's lights out. "Look, I don't care how you do it, just apologise properly and fix your mess." Noah stormed off.

'_How?'_ Finn wondered. _'Maybe I could do it the way I did it before Invitationals? It almost worked until she found out about the baby. But there is no baby now so it will work, and maybe we can pick up where we left off before Jesse came and ruined everything.'_

"Finn I need to talk to you." Quinn came over to him having heard his and Noah's entire conversation. "You love me right? I mean you want to be with me despite what's happened right?"

"Of course." _'Maybe we can't pick up where we left off.'_

"Can you do me a favour?"

"I'm not apologising to Rachel for you Quinn."

"No I don't want you to do that." Quinn shook her head. _'He's better do this.'_ "Can you maybe not ask Rachel to come back?"

"Why?"

"You and I are in a good place right now, like before, before you joined the Glee club and she threw herself all over you every day. I'm scared that if she comes back she's going to ruin us again, it's because of her I turned to Puck and ended up getting pregnant anyway."

"That's not going to happen, you and I are going to be fine. But we all agreed that we want Rachel back, besides with Sunshine returning to her home country we're going to need her."

"No you all agreed, I was outvoted along with Kurt and Mercedes. Why Can't you do this for me? I thought you loved me."

"I do love you Quinn but you're asking me to go against the team and against what's right, I won't do that. What we did to her, what you did was wrong and we have to make it up to her."

"If you won't do this then we're through." _'He won't be able to resist now, he's desperate to be with me.'_ "I'm not going to let that girl ruin my relationship and my life again, its bad enough that she's taken my friends I won't let her have my boyfriend."

"The only one who ruined things was you Quinn, I've hurt Rachel enough today, I won't do it again."

"Then we're done, I never want to be with you again. I'm not taking you back this time Finn, not even if you beg on your knees."

"Whatever." Finn walked away leaving a furious Quinn in the now crowded hallway.

She screamed and stomped her foot hard before glaring at the other students. "What are you losers looking at? Do you all have such pathetic lives that you have to watch someone break up?" The disgraced ex-Cheerio stormed off in the opposite direction, the students parted like the Red Sea but not for the reasons they used to.

"Someone needs to up that girl's meds." A hockey jock joked when the coast was clear.

By the time lunch had come around everyone knew about the end of Quinn and Finn, this worried Noah; he'd told Finn that he didn't care how he go Rachel back onto the team but he knew that Finn still had some feelings for the girl and might try to ask her out. He couldn't let that happen. _'Unless I do it first.'_ He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Rachel, smiling when her reply came through. _'Puckleberry 2.0 is back on.'_ He shared a smile with Santana and Brittany on the Cheerio table and saw Rachel and Tina laugh about something, he caught her eye and winked and smiled at her blush. _'I'm not letting you go this time Rach, you and I are endgame we're blowing out of this town.'_


	10. Chapter 9

**_The beginning of Puckleberry and the Mr Schue apology. It might take me a while to upload the next chapter (just a couple of days) as I haven't actually written it in my notebook yet so please bear with me. Your reviews are amazing, thank you Enjoy :)_  
**

**Chapter 9**

"You wanted to see me?" Rachel stepped into the auditorium where Noah was waiting for her.

"Yeah, uh please sit down." Noah was nervous, he'd only asked Rachel out once and they hadn't even lasted a week. "You remember when you told me that the school called us Puckleberry while we were dating?"

"Yeah. You said that it was a lame nickname."

"Well, what if I decided that I actually liked the idea and that I only said that cause you were with Jesse?"

"I'd be confused as to why you're saying this now and not then."

"What I'm trying to ask Rach, will you go out to dinner with me sometime?"

"Like a date?"

"Yeah, and before you ask I'm not asking you just to get you back to the New Directions. When you broke up it was because you had feelings for Finn and I had to focus on Quinn and the baby, even if she didn't want me to and no one knew that she was mine, I felt like I couldn't be with anyone else which is why I didn't fight for our relationship. Now I can be with whoever I want."

"And that's me?" Rachel pointed to herself. "But I'm not beautiful or popular or even sexy like Quinn and Santana, why would you want me?"

"Girls like them are a dime-a-dozen, you're one in a million, there's no other girl like you. You're perfect, your beautiful and sexy without even trying."

Rachel sat on his lap like the time she helped to clean his hair when he received his first slushy. "I'd love to go to dinner with you Noah." She linked her hands around the back of his neck and smiled.

He pulled her closer and she rested her head on his shoulders. "Have any of the others apologised yet?"

"Well…"

FLASHBACK

"_Hey Rachel? Can we talk?" She turned to find Mike standing nervously at the table she was sitting at in the library._

"_Sure Michael, have a seat." Mike sat nervously as she finished her sentence and put her pen down. "What's up?"_

"_I know that you and I have never really spoken because of our popularity differences but I just want to say how sorry I am for everything; ignoring you, not taking the chance to get to know you properly and for everything I put you through with the whole miscarriage thing." He began. "It's just you're so intimidating and yet so small, you have these big dreams and your whole life planned out the way you want it and the rest of us can't even decide what we're going to do for summer vacation. I envy that about you Rachel."_

"_I don't understand, how can you envy someone who's lower on the social food chain than you?"_

"_My father has my life planned out for me, everything. Who I'm going to marry, what college I go to, what hospital I'll work at. Everything. I think that's why when we were teasing you before you got kicked out, I never defended you, because I was jealous and I'm so sorry."_

"_Your father doesn't choose who you fall in love with or what career you want, you want to dance, not be a doctor. My daddy's father said that he had to become a lawyer in a big city, but after he met my dad he found that he wanted to become a financial advisor. My grandfather had no choice but to accept it or he'd lose his only son, your dad will have to do the same." Rachel told him. "I accept your apology Michael, I'd like to get to know you better."_

"_I'd like that too Rachel. Oh that reminds me, I got this for you." He held a small box. "Open it."_

_Inside was a silver chain with a star pendant and Chinese letters engraved._

"_It spells your name." He explained._

"_I love it thank you Michael." She reached over and gave him a hug before putting the necklace on._

END FLASHBACK

"And that's how it went. Matthew's was similar, but he gave me this vegan cookie he bought in the bakery. And Artie well he had a different way of apologising…"

FLASHBACK

"_Uh Rachel, I don't have a lot of time right now, I'm late for detention and all but I'd like to give you this." Artie came up to her and handed her a disk._

"_Thank you. I'm sorry you all got detention."_

"_Hey we deserved it, we treated you horribly after Quinn miscarried." He rebuffed. "Look I gotta go, Coach Sylvester is on detention duty today. I'll see you tomorrow." He rolled away._

_Rachel looked down at the disk in her hands, she was intrigued so she went to the AV room to watch it._

"_**Hey Rachel, I know that I have all these phrases I copy from rappers and others but right now I don't have those, just me." **__Artie was sitting in the choir room. __**"Remember when you first joined Glee club, you were the last to audition and the rest of us had already kinda clicked as friends, well I took one look at you and made a horrible judgement; that you were a spoilt little rich girl with two dads and didn't understand what it was like to go through pain. After our first rehearsal, when we sang 'Rocking the Boat' I added another judgement, you wanted everything to go your way, you wanted all of the solos, didn't care about our input and threw a temper tantrum when you didn't get your own way." **__Rachel frowned, she really was that bad wasn't she? __**"Well I was only right about some of those judgements, especially after you were the only one not to complain about being in a wheelchair to see how life was like for me, you even raised the most money for me to come with you guys to Sectionals, I don't know what you or Puck put in your cookies and cupcakes but they were awesome, well I know what Puck put in his." **__They shared a laugh. __**"I want to apologise Rachel, for every judgement I made about you, I think the only one I actually got right was that you have two dads. I really want to apologise for the despicable behaviour I've been showing the last month, it was another judgement that I made, that you wanted Finn and was willing to ruin his relationship with Quinn to do it, he told us that it wasn't you who told him. I was wrong and I admit that whole-heartedly. This is for you Rachel." **__He pulled our his guitar and began strumming._

_**Will you listen to my story?It'll just be a minuteHow can I explain?What ever happened hereNever meant to hurt youHow could I cause you so much pain?When I say I'm sorryWill you believe me?Listen to my storySay you wont leave meWhen I say I'm sorryCan you forgive me?When I say I'll always be thereWill you believeWill you believe me?All the words that I come up withThey're like gasoline on flamesThere's no excuseNo explainationBelive meIf I could I'd undo what I did wrongI'd give away all that I ownWhen I say I'm sorryWill you believe me?Listen to my storySay you wont leave meWhen I say I'm sorryCan you forgive me?When I say I'll always be thereWill you believeWill you believe me?If I told youI've been cleaning my soulAnd if I promised youI'll regain controlWill you open your doorAnd let me in?Take me for who I amAnd not for who I've been?Who I've been...When I say I'm sorryWill you believe me?Listen to my storySay you wont leave meWhen I say I'm sorryCan you forgive me?When I say I'll always be thereWill you believe?When I say I'm sorry(When I say I'm sorry)When I say I'm sorry(When I say I'm sorry)When I say I'm sorryCan you forgive me?When I say I'll always be thereWill you believe? **_

"_**I thought that you didn't know pain but then I saw your pain every time we made fun of you in Glee club or shot down your ideas, I now see that you only wanted what was best for the club, you're the reason we won Sectionals not Finn showing up last minute. I'll understand if you never forgive me and I'll accept that, but please know that I mean every word of my apology. You're a star Rachel, you need to shine brightly and all we've been doing is bringing you down." **__The video feed cut off, Rachel had tears in her eyes, no one had ever sung a song like that for her, Noah sang Sweet Caroline and that was kind of their song now but no one else had done this for her. She had to find Artie and tell him that she forgives him._

'Shoot he's in detention. Hmm maybe I could get Coach Sylvester to give him a note.'_ She wrote a simple note. 'I forgive you Artie, thank you for the song it was lovely, you have an amazing voice and I hope you get to rap your way around the world someday.' She also put her cell phone number down, that meant that now her parents, Vocal Adrenaline, Noah, Santana, Brittany, Tina, Mike, Matt and now Artie had her new number. She ran to the detention room and knocked, Coach Sylvester gestured her to come in and she quietly whispered to give the note to Artie before leaving._

_She watched in the little window as Coach Sylvester handed Artie the note and he read it, he smile grew when she saw him smile and look up mouthing 'thank you' to her before she left._

END FLASHBACK

"Wow, I never thought Artie would sing for you." Noah commented. "That's my job." He joked.

"Looks like you have competition Noah." Rachel smiled.

"So that just leaves Finn, Quinn, Kurt and Mercedes. Which I don't get because it was her idea to make things right with you through song but so far we haven't practiced anything."

"Maybe they're waiting until after Regionals?"

"But Quinn's suspended after Regionals, she won't be allowed on school grounds to do it and Mercedes was saying about doing it in front of the school."

"Well, neither of them have spoken to me since the video incident. Nor have they seeked me out."

"I hate to ask, but what about you coming back to the Glee club."

"I've though about it; I missed it so much when I got kicked out and all I want to do is come back, but with it being so close to Regionals and the end of the year I think it's best if I come back in September. Besides, if I come back you guys get another year whether you place or not, but no one else is supposed to know that." she smiled. "And that doesn't mean you can slack off in rehearsals either. Oh, and Coach Sylvester wants me to be a Cheerio next semester too."

"You'd be awesome as a Cheerio babe. Now I gotta go and plan our date."

"I need to get to Ms Pillsbury's office, Mr Schue wants to speak with me and I'm a little nervous so I asked if she could be near." Rachel got up. "Don't go overboard on the date planning Noah, you know me; I don't like big first dates."

"Don't worry I won't." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "I'll walk with you to Ms Pillsbury's office, let me know how it goes ok?"

"Sure." She smiled as they left hand in hand, a natural feeling for them, Karofsky and Azimio saw them and nodded approvingly before going back to their conversation. "I'll see you later Noah."

"Eight o'clock ok for you?"

"Perfect." He walked away and she couldn't help but look at his backside before taking a deep breath and knocking on the guidance councillor's door where Ms Pillsbury was waiting with Mr Schue. "Sorry I'm a little late." She sat down next to Mr Schue.

"It's no problem Rachel, we were just discussing plans for summer vacation." Ms Pillsbury smiled. "Do you have any?"

"Well, I'll be going to LA with Jesse and my mom to help him get settled in for college so we'll be gone for about a week or so, then mom wants me to meet her family in New York, but most of the time I'll be spending time with my dads before they have to go on their business trips."

"Sounds wonderful." Ms Pillsbury beamed. "Now Rachel, to the matter at hand. Mr Schuester here has something that he wishes to discuss with you, now I'm going to be just outside so if you need me just call ok."

Rachel nodded as Ms Pillsbury got up and left. _'The last time Mr Schue wanted a word he kicked me out of the Glee club.' _Rachel breathed. _'Stop it Rachel, things have changed now, everyone knows the truth. You did nothing wrong.'_

There was silence for a few moments before Mr Schue cleared his throat.

"First of all Rachel I want to apologise; for always thinking the worst of you, for letting the others make fun of you in the team and never doing anything to stop them, then allowing them to continue after we kicked you out and even doing it myself. I never gave you a chance to talk that day."

"Thank you, I accept."

"I also want to apologise for saying that your Broadway dream is impossible; I was jealous because I had big dreams like that when I was in high school but I never had the drive to actually do it. I want to add that I should never have used you as a scape-goat for my problems with Terri and her lies, I let my personal feelings get in the way because I saw myself and Terri in Finn and Quinn and once Terri's lie came out I saw you as Terri; trying to ruin everything and that was wrong."

"I forgive you Mr Schue."

"And I understand if you don't want to come back to the New Directions but we would really like you to return to the family."

'_He's really sorry, they all are, well maybe not Quinn, Kurt and Mercedes but the rest are really sincere, even though I have yet to get a proper apology out of Finn. Oh how I've missed Glee.'_ "Can I come back in September?"

"Of course, you don't even have to ask." He pulled her into a fatherly hug and she began to cry. "What's wrong?"

"I got you and the club into so much trouble and you're all apologising to me, I feel like it should be the other way around." She cried.

"No Rachel, we got ourselves in this trouble. If you hadn't spoken to Figgins I would've lost my job and my teaching licence and I'd deserve it. Don't blame yourself, no one else does."

'_Quinn does, she's always glaring at me like she's planning something else.'_ Rachel mentally added.

Ms Pillsbury came back in, she had been watching the whole time and knew what Mr Schue wanted to say. "All done? Good. Now Rachel if you don't mind I'd like to talk to Mr Schuester a little more please."

"Sure." She got up and went to the door. _'They're totally dating. Whoa ease up there Berry, you're beginning to sound like Santana.'_ She left and closed the door behind her.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"So why haven't you two apologised yet?" Noah cornered Kurt and Mercedes as Kurt's locker. "You're the ones who said we needed to fix this."

"Actually you'll find that was Mike, Mercedes just agreed and said we should do it in song form, however there aren't many apology songs without messages of love in them." Kurt began. "And besides, we all know that as soon as every one apologises she'll come back and steal all of the solos again and all the spotlight, it'll be just like before. She was rude and obnoxious and petty when she didn't get her own way."

"She didn't have to publicly humiliate us in front of our parents that we treated her so badly for nothing. I'm grounded throughout the summer, that's all of my plans ruined now." Mercedes complained.

"Mine too. I've never seen my father so furious. He took away my magazine subscriptions and my interior decorating book." Kurt looked to Mercedes. "He's still getting used to the idea of me coming out openly."

"I don't believe this. You're _blaming _her for showing the truth to stop the bullying that you did in the first place?" _'These two need their heads examined.'_

"You blamed her too, you were right there with us when we bullied her." Kurt argued.

"I never actually did anything though did I? I didn't stop it and I should've done but I didn't do anything to hurt her. You two need to do what's best for the team, we need Rachel because she's the best, she has more talent in her pinky finger than the two of you combined. She's never going to come back if you two can't pull your heads out of your asses and see that you're ruining our chances for next year." Noah stormed off.

"Hello Puck." Quinn greeted him as he turned the corner.

"Don't talk to me Fabray, I have nothing to say to you." He began to walk past her.

"Why? Worried that Rachel will see us together and run to Finn now that he's back on the market?" He stopped as she taunted him. "look I really need to talk to you."

"Not interested, good luck finding someone to help you now." He continued to walk away from her, he had a date to plan. _'Rachel would never do that, she told me last week that she's had no feelings for him for months, ever since we broke up.'_

'_Stupid Berry. Stupid Puck. I'll just have to deal with her myself, unless I can rely on Kurt and Mercedes.'_ Quinn glared after him before storming off to her next class.


	11. Chapter 10

**_I want to thank you all for being so patient for this update you're all amazing, I was away and didn't take my writing with me so when I came back yesterday I still had half of this chapter to write and then type it up. I'm currently writing chapter 11 and will hopefully post around this time tomorrow, I promise that I'll keep my updates regular. Also while I was away I realised that was spelling principal wrong (was spelling it 'principle') but that may be the american spelling and not the english, I don't know. So here it is, the Puckleberry date and Regionals, tell me if you wanted more details in the Puckleberry date and I'll make them happen in following chapters, I also might finish this story on a cliffhanger and pick it up in a second story, what do you guys think?_  
**

**Chapter 10**

Rachel looked over her outfit once more, Santana and Brittany had insisted that she ear the dark jeans and a hot red top with a black blazer and heels, which they took a photo of and uploaded it onto Rachel's Facebook entitled 'Looks who's ready to know Puckerman out tonight'.

"Why have you never worn these clothes to school?" Brittany asked as she flipped through the back of Rachel's second closet where she kept all of the clothes Kurt would approve of.

"My first day of high school I wore the white satin blouse and the faded jeans with my favourite boots and ended up getting slushied cause I wouldn't move out of Karofsky's way. The blouse had to be thrown away and once my fathers found out we decided that I'd wear the sweatshirts my grandma bought me. I wear those clothes on the weekends though." She explained.

"Keep still Rach or I'm going to poke your eye out." Santana scolded as she touched up her make-up. "You're going to make Puck speechless you know."

"I'm so nervous, the only other date I've had was the Wiggles concert with Jesse."

"Speaking of Jesse, he and a lot of others commented on your photo." Brittany brought the laptop over to them.

**Jesse St James- **_**He hurts you and I'll show him just how much of a badass I can be. (Matt Rutherford, Mike Chang and 20 others like this)**_

**Tina Cohen-Chang- **_**You look fabulous Rach, have a great time. (Mike Chang and 10 others like this)**_

**Mike Chang- **_**Woohoo Puckleberry 2.0 at last. (Tina Cohen-Chang, Matt Rutherford and 30 other people like this.)**_

**Matt Rutherford-**_** You should wear those clothes to school ;) you look awesome. (Mike Change, David Karofsky and 30 others like this)**_

**Andrea Cohen- **_**Jesse told me about your date, is he the one with the Mohawk? If so he's a hottie Rach, great catch ;) (Tina Cohen-Chang, Noah Puckerman, Mike Chang and 40 others like this.)**_

**Noah Puckerman-**_** Can't wait to see it for real, you look beautiful Rach and don't worry St James she's my hot Jewish princess I'll always look after her. (Jesse St James and 40 others like this)**_

"Wow, Jesse's really protective." Santana noted, "Jealous ex-boyfriend?"

"Nothing like that, yeah we dated but he's more like a protective older brother now."

"You dated your older bother? But I thought you were an only child." Brittany closed the closet door.

"I am, he's not really my brother Britt, he just likes to pretend to be. He looks after me."

"Rachel, Noah's here." Hiram called up the stairs.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm not ready for this. What if I bore him? What if-"

"Rach calm down." Santana took hold of her shoulders. "he's crazy about you, has been for awhile. Now breathe and get out of here."

Rachel smiled and hugged them both before grabbing her purse and leaving the room.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Have I told you how beautiful you are?" Noah reached over the table and held her hand.

"Only about a hundred times since we left the house." Rachel smiled and blushed.

"I don't just mean tonight, I mean all of the time. You're so beautiful Rachel." He kissed her hand. "I love it when you blush."

"Thank you Noah, you look very handsome tonight, and thank you for this." She gestured to the charm bracelet on her wrist, a rose and a heart on there. "I can't wait to add more." She smiled. "Can you believe that Regionals is tomorrow?"

"Time's gone so quickly this week, I can't believe it's almost over."

"Seems like yesterday that you chose Glee over football."

"I'd do it all over again if I could see that smile on your face every day, much like the one you've got now." She blushed again. "You want to get out of here? There's somewhere I want to take you."

Rachel nodded and Noah called the waiter over asking for the bill, once their meals were paid for he took her hand, kissed it again and lead her to his mom's car, he decided that his truck wasn't really acceptable for a date. He drove them to the old theatre where old movies used to be played, it had been closed for as long as they could remember but the council hadn't the heart to knock it down as it was a town landmark, there was still all the equipment and a few movies left inside after a bunch of youths had pilfered the rest and a lot of couples used this as a date point.

"Remember how you said Beauty and the Beast was your favourite Disney movie? Well I found it in the theatre and thought we could watch it."

"Rachel smiled as she sat in the back seat while Noah attached the movie reel to the projector and positioned it facing the only wall that didn't have graffiti. He joined her and they cuddled closely, his arms around her and her head on his chest, as the movie began.

When the ballroom scene came he looked down and smiled at her mouthing the words to 'Tale as Old as Time' and ended up mouthing the words with her.

'_Beauty and the Beast is really our movie, Rach could totally be Belle and I'm completely badass like Beast.' _He thought as the movie came to its final few scenes. _'Finn is Gaston, no question about that.'_ He watched as Gaston stabbed Beast in the back and held Rachel closer when he heard her sniff, this was always the part of the movie she hated.

When the movie came to the end and the credits rolled he pulled away slightly to wipe away the tears he knew would be on her cheeks, he then gently pulled her into a kiss. Her hands went to his face and around his neck as she tried to pulled him closer, his tongue ran across her bottom lip asking for entrance which she happily granted. He pulled her onto his lap so that she was straddling him, pulling each other closer she nibbled lightly on his bottom lip and ran her hands through his Mohawk. When the need for air became too much they reluctantly parted and rested their foreheads together breathing heavily.

"Wow." She sighed. Yes Jesse had been a fantastic kisser but Noah's kises always left her speechless and wanting more.

"Be my girlfriend Rach?" He asked looking deep into her eyes with nothing but love. "I should never have let you go the first time, I promise I'll never let you go again."

"Of course I will Noah, you had me the moment you asked me out for dinner." she smiled.

"Thank you, does this mean you'll wear my letterman jacked for the rest of the year?"

"Yes."

Noah kissed her lightly and she responded. "I've got one more place I want to take you to before I have to get you back."

Rachel got off of his lap blushing at the bulge in his jeans, Noah closed his eyes for a moment and thought hard before the bulge lessened and he got out of the car to put the movie reel and the projector away.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Noah where are you taking me?" She asked an hour later as she felt the car go over another bump, he had blindfolded her before they left.

"It's a surprise Rach you'll just have to be patient." He smiled as he knew patience wasn't Rachel's strongest quality. "I promise we're almost there." He turned the corner and parked the car. "Ok, you can take off the blindfold now."

Rachel did just that before gasping lightly. "Oh Noah it's so beautiful." They were parked on Overlook Peak, the highest point in Lima where they could see the whole of the town's lights. "Do you remember coming here with our bikes and Hercules?" Hercules had been Noah's dog before he got hit by a car when they started Junior High, Noah had been so devastated he began to act out, luckily he still had Rachel to tell him when things got too far.

"Crazy dog would chase the squirrels until he passed out." Noah smiled. "I brought you here because it's kind of our place and to give you this, now before you say anything I didn't spend a dime; I was looking through my old stuff and found it." He pulled put a small box and handed it to her.

She opened the box and inside was a small bracelet with stars and moons on, one she thought she had lost years ago. "You found it." She smiled. It was too small for her now but it had been her favourite, her fathers had offered to buy her another but she didn't want a replacement, her grandfather had given it to her before he died.

"I found it shortly after you broke up with me and was going to give it back, but then the whole 'Finn's not the father' thing came out, then you were with St James and then the miscarriage and finally the…" He couldn't finish.

"The bullying. It's ok to talk about it Noah." She reassured holding his hand.

"Not on our date it's not." He sighed as he gently pulled Rachel into his arms. They looked at the lights for a while longer before Noah checked the time. "Cone on, I'd better get you home before curfew."

They drove home listening to the radio, Noah's spare arm around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest, they made it back with ten minutes to spare and spent those minutes making out of her porch swing until her father tapped on the window lightly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said getting up. "You're cheering for me right?"

"Of course. You have nothing to worry about Noah, you'll all be great." She kissed him before watching him walk to the car and went inside as he drove away. She sighed happily and shut the door behind her.

"Good night?" Hiram asked with a knowing smile. Leroy not far behind him smiling like the cat who caught the canary.

"The best. I'm going to bed now, night dad, night daddy." She kissed her fathers on the cheek before going upstairs.

As she entered her room she saw the large bouquet of flowers Noah had given her, one of her dads must have put them in her room, they were Gerberas her favourite. She happily sat on the bed, stared at them a little longer before falling back grabbing her pillow, putting it over her face and allowing herself a girly squeal of happiness.

Downstairs Leroy went back to his study and Hiram looked on up the stairs and heard his daughter's squeal. _'It's about time she had a true smile on her face'_ He mused before joining his husband in the study.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"Ok guys, I know we've had a tough year but remember that win or lose, know that I am so proud of you." Mr Schue told them the next day at Regionals.

'_Win or lose we still get Rachel back'_ Noah thought happily, he hadn't had a chance to talk to her yet, she arrived with Vocal Adrenaline but promised she'd come see him.

"I still think we'd win if we had Rachel with us. I miss her." Brittany pouted.

"We don't need her Brittany." Kurt sniffed haughtily.

"Yeah we're good without her." Mercedes agreed.

"But we'd be better with her." Santana argued. "Face it, Rachel's was the best damn performer in this room. And don't worry Britt we'll see her later."

"Yeah, we'd totally kick Vocal Adrenaline ass with her." Tina smiled.

"Word." Matt, Mike and Artie fist bumped each other.

"Thanks Santana and Tina, your words mean so much to me." Rachel opened the door.

"This is a private dressing room." Mercedes began.

"I just came to say break a leg to the team representing my school, just because I came with Vocal Adrenaline doesn't mean that I don't support you guys so get your panties out of that bunch." Rachel snapped. "Break a leg guys, you'll be great."

"Already ahead of you Rach." Artie joked.

"You know what I mean, and your legs aren't broken, they just don't move."

"Hey I still got the moves baby."

"Stop flirting with my girl Wheels." Noah mock glared.

"Worried she'll trade up?"

"Sorry Artie but I don't think Tina wants to share, besides I'm Noah's girlfriend. You had to be quicker."

Everyone except Finn, Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn and Mr Schue laughed, although he had a smile on his face.

"Well I'd better get going, mom will be looking for me." She kissed Noah before leaving the dressing room.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

They didn't win, they didn't even place. Glee club was over for them now. What would they do next year? The jocks and the remaining Cheerios would probably go back to their normal lives. Quinn had no idea what she would do, nor did the others.

"This is all Rachel's fault." Kurt decided as he wiped off the stage make up. "If she had just accepted Finn's apology in the auditorium instead of making a big deal about us begging on our knees for her forgiveness she would've come back and we would've won."

The majority of the club rolled their eyes.

"You said that we didn't need her and now you're saying we do?" Mike asked incredulously.

"Seriously Kurt, make up your mind." Matt agreed. "You either want her in the club or you don't, you can't have it both ways."

"Pfft, you know he doesn't want her back." Artie scoffed as he removed his tie. "If he did, he and Mercedes would've swallowed their pride and apologised already."

"And what about Quinn?" Noah asked glaring at the blonde. "When are you going to apologise?"

'_When Hell is a ski resort.'_ Quinn looked to the floor and glared. "I suppose I'd better do it soon seeing as I'm suspended from Monday." She bit out.

"Oh don't worry darling." Kurt put an arm around her comfortingly. "If Rachel can forgive Santana and Puck then she can forgive you."

"This isn't as simple as simply bullying her because we didn't like her." Noah cleared his throat at Santana's words. "Ok because _I_ didn't like her, this is Quinn killing her baby and convincing us that it was because of Rachel and then the torture we put her through because of it."

"Santana's right." Brittany reasoned. "You can't expect Rachel to forgive you and move on like nothing's happened, you really have to make it up to her."

'_Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. I'm sick of hearing her name and how I have to make it up to her. I would never have been in this mess if she had just kept her grubby hand off of my boyfriend.'_ Quinn shrugged Kurt off. "I'd better get working on that then." She left the dressing room and walked down the corridor to Vocal Adrenaline's dressing room where she could hear them celebrating. _'Hmm, maybe I should just get it over with.'_ She knocked.

Jesse opened the door and scowled. "What do you want Fabray?"

"I need to talk to Rachel, can you get her please?"

"Why should I?"

"Because as part of my punishment I have to apologise to her, so can you get her to come out here?"

Jesse sighed. "You hurt her anymore and you'll have me to deal with." He closed the door.

"Oh please, what am I going to do? Kill her?" She mumbled before the door opened again and Rachel stepped out.

"Yes Quinn?" She greeted.

"Can we talk in private?"

Rachel studied her. "Quinn you know the conditions of your punishment, you have to apologise in front of the Glee club." She didn't mean to sound snobbish but she was nervous; there was something in Quinn's eyes that worried her.

"Right, so I'll have Mr Schue get everyone together and do it then." Quinn left. _'Stupid Manhands. Sooner or later RuPaul you won't be a problem for me anymore.'_


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_**This is the last chapter until I begin the sequel, I want to thank you all for reading and reviewing, I'm writing the first chapter of the sequel tonight and hopefully posting tomorrow, if I get back from the horses at a reasonable time.**_

The following afternoon as promised, Quinn asked Mr Schue to gather the Glee club and had them meet at the park.

"So I brought you all here today because I have to apologise to Rachel." Quinn began. "I'm doing it now because from tomorrow I'm suspended, I don't have a speech prepared so I'll have to wing it. Rachel, I'm sorry I've made fun of you every day for the past two years, I'm sorry I thought you wanted Finn and I'm sorry I blamed you for my miscarriage and getting everyone to believe that it was your fault." _'If they all buy this then I'm a better actress than I thought.'_

Rachel stood and looked into Quinn's eyes, she could tell that she wasn't sincere but her fathers had always taught her to be both graceful and the better person. _'I have to accept or the Glee club next year will be tense and we won't be the best we can be.'_ She took a deep breath. "I forgive you Quinn, thank you."

'_Too easy.'_ Quinn smiled maliciously.

"It's too bad we won't have Glee club next year." Tina held Artie's hand sadly. "We didn't place."

"You haven't told them Mr Schue?" Rachel asked as she made her way back to Noah.

"I was going to wait until Monday but since Tina brought it up I guess now's as good a time as any."

"Tell us what?" Kurt asked.

"Figgins changed the conditions of the Glee club." Mr Schue explained. "We have another year whether we place or not but only if Rachel comes back."

"Oh, Dios mio. Rachel tiene que volver. Si no me voy a ir a todas las alturas de Lima adyacentes en el culo." Santana rambled in Spanish.

"Easy San, I'm not sure even Mr Schue knew what you were saying. I've thought about it and I want to come back, I really do, but only if you all want me back too." Rachel looked pointedly to Kurt and Mercedes.

"Why are you looking at us?" Mercedes asked.

"Because other than Quinn you two are the only ones who wouldn't want her back." Noah held his girlfriend .

"That's not true." Kurt protested. "Ok it's a little true, but can you blame us? She has all of the solos, doesn't work in a team and is selfish."

"So we won't have another year because you're jealous that she knows more about the show choir competition circuit and has more talent than any of us combined?" Mike asked. "Real team players you guys are."

"If there's one thing I've learned from watching Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsals and their performances is that you put your most strongest and most contributing performer in front." Rachel gently rubbed Noah's arms as she felt him tense.

"So why don't you join Vocal Adrenaline if they're so great?" Mercedes asked bitterly.

"Because I don't want to, and with most of the team going off to colleges around the country and my mom leaving Carmel there is no point in transferring to a new school only to kick your asses next year." Rachel snapped. "McKinley is my home and I won't be pushed out by children who can't handle constructive criticism. Maybe if you worked harder and contributed a few more sensible ideas instead of songs that require only your vocal levels then you might get a few more solos."

Noah could tell that she was getting upset, he held her tighter and kissed the side of her forehead. "Easy babe." He whispered.

"Ok enough." Mr Schue ended the argument. "This is Rachel's decision and also a team decision, if need be we'll go to a majority vote, but she won't be coming back until September."

"You making her feel unwanted isn't helping us." Artie told them. "You're the one who told her that everyone was replaceable, but the truth is she's not, you however are."

"As much as I like to watch these two have their asses handed to them Rachel and I have plans." Noah announced.

"That's not fair." Brittany complained. "You got her Friday night."

"Don't worry Britt, I'll see you tomorrow at school, I promise." Rachel hugged Brittany, Santana, Tina and the boys before allowing herself to be pulled away by Noah.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

"So where are we going?" Rachel asked as Noah drove.

"Our place." He replied simply.

She smiled and cuddled closer to him, she loved that they had a special place before they were dating and now it made it even more special.

"So what now?" Noah asked as he pulled up. "I know you're joining to Cheerios and coming back to Glee in September but what's happening in between? What you doing for vacation?"

"Uh, well I guess just working on school work and vocal lessons. I'll be going to San Francisco with Vocal Adrenaline and my mom for Nationals, and then in the summer I'll be going to LA with Jesse to help him settle into college and then I'm spending a week in New York getting to know my mom's family."

"You're going to LA with your ex?" Noah asked angrily.

"And my mom, it's only for a couple of days."

"That's not the point. You're going away with your ex and I don't like it."

"Why? What's the big deal?" Rachel pulled away from him angrily.

"I don't trust that guy around you."

"Don't trust him or don't trust me?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Then what is the problem? Why is me and my mom going to LA with him such a big deal?"

"He obviously still likes you."

"Of course he does, he's my friend."

"You know what I mean." Rachel thought about his words for a second before beginning to laugh. "Oh now you're laughing at me, great. I'm glad you find it so amusing."

"Jesse's gay Noah. He's not into me that way, he only sees me as sister."

Noah sat in silence. _'What? St James is gay?'_ "But you dated him."

"In case you didn't notice, that relationship wasn't exactly real. We're just friends Noah, you're the one I want."

"Rach I am so sorry. It's just you're always around him and he's always touching you."

"I get it Noah, it's ok. Jesse likes to act like he's my older brother."

"Why didn't you tell me he's gay?"

"It wasn't my place to tell, he'd only just come out to his parents and they kicked him out, he lives with my mom right now. Only Vocal Adrenaline and my parents know."

Noah felt terrible, he'd basically accused his girlfriend of a day going back to her ex.

"Now can we stop talking about Jesse?" Rachel cuddled back up to her boyfriend.

"Sure babe, I am sorry though." He pulled her closer.

"I know you are Noah, it's ok." She stretched her neck and kissed him.

He returned the affection eagerly and pulled her onto his lap, she liked sitting in Noah's lap; it was far more comfortable than straining their necks and when he held her close she felt so safe, and his arousal was a bonus for her. Noah pulled away for a moment and began to kiss her neck repeatedly, nipping and sucking lightly, she gasped in pleasure and held onto him tighter, heat pooling in her belly and her legs tightening around his waist, she gasped again when she felt his erection digging into the crotch area of her shorts.

"Rach, we need to stop. I don't want to take you like this, I want it to be special." He panted and pulled away completely, albeit reluctantly.

"You're right. Thank you Noah." She breathed heavily. "I don't know what came over me."

"You're just so beautiful and sexy, it's natural for you." They laughed and Noah's phone rang. "Hey ma… Nope I'm with Rach… Yeah sure, mom says hi." He muttered to Rachel.

"Hi Mrs Puckerman."

"You hear that?… Cool that's great… Ok I'll be there soon… You too bye." He hung up. "She wants me to look after my sister while she goes to do an extra shift. You want to join me?"

"I have homework and vocal exercises, I have a lot to make up for especially since I've missed so much." She moved off of his lap and kissed him lightly.

He returned the kiss before starting up the truck and pulling out of Overlook Point.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

School was different with Quinn suspended; almost everyone got along and no one cared that the Glee club was lame and didn't place at Regionals. Karofsky and Azimio still looked out for Rachel, but only while Noah was in Glee rehearsal. Their usual target was Jacob who was hounding Rachel for interviews and inappropriate photos, he was dealt with easily; a simple glare and a flex of muscles usually got the message across, if not Rachel always had a lecture on sexual harassment and restraining orders prepared.

Sunshine went back to the Philippines but promised to come back for September and be enrolled as a full student, and Matt announced that his family was moving to South Carolina. The football team and the Glee club banded together to throw them a leaving party.

With the knowledge that their Glee future rested on Rachel's shoulders, Kurt and Mercedes were trying especially hard to keep her from coming back; they'd gone to Figgins telling him that they team was better without her, they bribed the hockey team to slushy her, now that she wore her nicer clothes and the bullying had stopped and she had stopped bringing a change of clothes, and they even gave Jacob photo-shopped photos of her nude. All of this failed of course; Figgins remained adamant about the terms of Glee club, the hockey team said they'd rather be gay than go against Puckerman, Karofsky and Azimio, and Jacob rejected the photos, he too didn't want to get on the wrong side of Rachel's boyfriend and bodyguards.

"If Quinn were here she'd just snap her fingers and they'd do it." Kurt complained.

'_He seems to be complaining about Rachel a lot lately.'_ Mercedes opened her locker and put her bag away. "Well she's not, maybe if we talk to Rachel and tell her that when she comes back then we're all a team and share solos, she'll be ok with it." Mercedes was getting worried, Kurt was turning out too much like Quinn, everyone in Glee club knew that her apology wasn't sincere but while she was suspended they couldn't keep an eye on her.

"Mercedes, this is Rachel 'I'm better than everyone and they should bow down before me' Berry. She'll be a team player at first but then she'll go right back to her old self, you know it and I know it." Kurt argued. "If you can't be loyal to me then I have no time for you." He stormed off.

Mercedes' lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears, she closed her locker and looked to the ground. She felt a small hand hold hers and pull her into an empty classroom, she was handed a tissue and looked up into Rachel's equally watery eyes.

"I'm sorry he treated you that way because of me. The last thing I wanted was for you to lose your friendship." She sat beside Mercedes.

"He's changed since we vandalised your car, I'm sorry about that by the way, I mean he was petty before but he was never this mean." Mercedes told her. "Rachel I am so sorry for everything, this must've been how you felt every day. Once I got onto the Cheerios I let the power get to my head, I thought that once I left them then I'd go back to my old self but I didn't and I changed into something I'm not."

"I forgive you Mercedes and I promise you that if I come back to Glee we will be a team."

"You mean when." They laughed. "I'd better get going to Glee, we're rehearsing for the Senior's graduation ceremony and party. Figgins is too cheap to book a band."

"Mind if I come? I want to give Kurt a piece of my mind."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Mercedes and Rachel stormed into the choir room, Kurt was reading a magazine alone. Mercedes went to stand with Tina, Santana and Brittany while Rachel marched straight up to Kurt, she snatched his magazine and flung it across the room, when he stood to protest angrily she used all of her anger and frustration and slapped him as hard as she could.

"About time." Santana cheered.

"How dare you." Kurt screeched.

"No, how dare you make your best friend cry and feel like that. She's been nothing but the best friend you'll ever have and has been nothing but loyal to you but the moment she shows that she cares about someone other than you and you don't have time for her? You're not Quinn Kurt, you do have a heart but your so jealous right now that you can't even hear it, you were popular while you were on the Cheerios and that's gone to your head, yes you and Mercedes were the only featured singers on the team but you know that it was just a plot by Coach Sylvester to mess with Glee club." Rachel ranted. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you petulant child." She snapped when his head turned to glare at Mercedes. "This isn't anyone else's fault but your own, and for your information I _am _coming back in September and _we will_ be a team but if you can't handle that then you can leave. I may have been selfish in the past and there may be days where I will be selfish again but that's only because I know what the judges are looking for, and remember this; I'm Rachel Berry and I'll always be better than you and I'll remind you of that fact every day that you put someone down because you're not getting your own way."

"Am I the only one who's turned on?" Santana asked. Matt, Mike, Artie, Noah and Brittany raised their hands. "Oh good it's not just me then."

"Damn babe that was hot." Noah pulled her into his arms.

"Wanky." Artie mimicked Santana, which she glared at. "Sorry, won't do it again."

"You're all just going to allow her to assault me?" Kurt had the brightest red handprint on his cheek any of them had ever seen.

"If it wasn't her then it would've been one of us." Tina said offhandedly.

"You wait until Mr Schue hears about this."

"Hears about what?" Mr Schue walked in. "Rachel what a surprise, are you here to sit in?"

"Sorry Mr Schue but I will have somewhere to be soon."

"She slapped Kurt Mr Schue." Finn told him.

"Look at my face, this will take days for the bruising to go down." Kurt was hysterical.

"She was defending me." Mercedes added. "Kurt was being a grade A jerk because I thought that having Rachel back on the team was a good idea. He told me that he had no time for me if I couldn't stay loyal to him."

"And I'm glad I did, I don't have time to socialise with those who would prefer to be around selfish girls than me."

"Do you hear yourself?" Rachel asked. "Mercedes grew a conscience and apologised, something you never did by the way. If you think that I'm selfish then you're the record holder."

"Ok everyone calm down. Rachel I'm sorry, as good as your intentions may have been you know you can't go around slapping people." Mr Schue explained. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you down to detention, please come with me."

Rachel kissed Noah on the cheek before followed Mr Schue out of the choir room, the majority of the club protested but their voices were met upon deaf ears, no one noticed that Kurt had pulled out his phone and was furiously texting someone.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Quinn sat in her car an hour later, the Glee club had all left the school already, she was waiting for someone else though, the text message she received from Kurt told her than Rachel would be walking home alone today as she had detention and Noah had to get home to look after his sister while his mom worked.

She waited on the corner until finally Rachel came out of the parking lot with her earphones in and began walking in the opposite direction, she revved the engine and screeched down the street, she turned the wheel slightly and let go watching as the car swerved towards her target and hitting her before the car crashed into the chain link fence.

She stumbled out of the car unhurt except for the throbbing in her ankle and limped over to the motionless girl, Rachel was laying face down, her music still playing, her school books had been flung from her bag and one of her shoes had come off. "Oh no, whatever will I do? Someone help me, someone help my friend." She simpered before smirking and limping back to the car and driving off. _'I've finally gotten rid of her, there's no way she can ruin my life now.'_ As far as Quinn was concerned she got off scott free, however she didn't notice the CCTV cameras or that the neighbours had heard the screech and looked from their windows, writing down the registration and description of the car driving dangerously while others came out to call 9-1-1 and to help the poor girl laying on the sidewalk.

When Quinn returned home she ignored her mother and ran herself a bath. _'I should get a medal for what I've just done. No one's going to bother investigating her terrible accident.'_ She relaxed that she couldn't get caught, or so she thought.

_**I forgot to put the translation for Santana's rant at the beginning... "Oh my God. Rachel you have to come back. If you don't I'm going to go all Lima Heights Adjacent on your ass." **_


End file.
